The Joys of Hearth and Home
by obsidian dreamer
Summary: He thought his family was about average and assumed hers would be the same. He could never have guessed just how wrong he was was going to be. Continuation from A Pair of Second Chances. BigMighty. COMPLETE but TBC...
1. Chapter 1 The Homecoming

**The Joys of Hearth and Home.**

Disclaimer and Author Notes: Okay, first of all for any lawyers that might be circling out there – though it's a pleasant image for my daydreams I do not and will in all probability never own anything official to do with Sega, the Sonic team or the entire blue hedgehog universe. Okay, now that's done with, onto the good stuff.

First off, two announcements; firstly for everyone who read the summary and thought 'he's pairing who with _who? – _this I gotta see!' Unfortunately there's nothing unnatural here save an author's pretty unique take on the Sonic characters so far; I can't suggest strongly enough that you read my entire arc of stories to get the full picture of what's going on, but in case you just want to get launched into the deep end it's enough to say that in my fics Mighty is and has always been female, hence the pairing. In case you are interested in the arc, the series goes like this: Angel of Darkness and Ice – The Best Medicine – A Bloodstone Rose – Iron Skin, Golden Heart – Lose Your Illusions – Psyche Out – Friends and Lovers – A Pair of Second Chances and now, brand spanking new, The Joys of Hearth and Home. As a last note, the earlier chapters of this fic will overlap with APOSC; thought I'd mention that to avoid any confusion.

The second sound-off goes to my dedicated cadre of reviewers; hope you'll enjoy this latest offering of mine, a change of pace from the marathon that A Pair of Second Chances turned out to be (don't ask me how they end up so long, I just sit down in front of the screen and get key-tapping – by the time I stop it's dark and I've written a whole lot more than I'd ever planned to!) However, seeing the comments left at the last chapter of that tale, I think it's perhaps best if I tell you now something I've made my mind up on – I doubt I'll ever write a 'dedicated' TailsCream fic; let me explain. In my timeline, these two are just bordering fourteen and about to turn thirteen respectively; cast your minds back to yourselves at that age – did you ever really have a serious girl/boyfriend? Were you going out with someone? Personally it doesn't seem right to have them as a serious couple just yet at their ages – much more realistic (and a heck of a lot more fun) to have them walking on eggshells around each other in the background, not daring to make the first move, just waiting to get a nudge in the right direction at the same time as shouting off all the nudge-nudge, wink-wink sent their way by parent, adoptive older siblings and close friends. That's my interpretation anyway – if you disagree, please feel free to contact me and tell me your arguments to the contrary; you never know, a 'ten-years later' idea might crop up in the future, now that would be a challenge…

For now though, having waffled on long enough, I'll end as I started; please enjoy the read and let me know if there's anything I can improve on.

Okay, catch a lift folks; the show's heading north of the border!

Chapter 1 – The Homecoming.

As she had been for the past fifteen minutes, she continued to gaze out of the window in front of her, not caring that the task she had started nearly a quarter of an hour ago had yet to be completed, nor the fact that the water around her hands, having already cooled well past the point of tepidity, was actually starting to stagnate into a cold soup of grease, old morsels of foodstuffs liberated from the pans they had been previously befouling and a few last remnants of bubble patches. Even as her hands worked mechanically in the sink beneath but in front of her, her eyes never deviated from their position, trained on the garden before her, seeing but ignoring the slightly unkempt grass waving in the playful breeze as well as the petrol mower, left outside almost carelessly from the previous night as a sudden rain shower had spared the lawn from its forthcoming trim, in favour of the sight of her front gate; only occasionally, even more rarely now, did she briefly break contact to glance across at the clock on the wall, each view thrilling and tormenting her equally. She was taut with pent-up emotion, the finely honed instinct of a mother that knows logically her child is well grown, fully able to live alone in the outside world, yet still cannot bring itself to completely break away emotionally was now telling her that soon, oh so very soon, her eldest child, the one she had fretted about so often in the past as misery had been piled upon tragedy for her family, would be returning. This she knew, and thus she waited where she was, knowing the time was coming closer, was almost imminent and unwilling, unable almost, to tear her attention away to focus on anything other than her little one's return.

A shadow fell over the gate post and she moved; without needing to see she knew her baby had come back. Ripping her hands from the sink, pausing only to give them the very briefest rub down with the nearest tea towel that came to hand, she bolted towards the front door, wanting nothing more than to fling it open and usher her progeny into his rightful home. Her hand seized the door handle roughly and the sudden coolness of the metal beneath her ungloved hand shocked her enough to act as a conductor of her rational mind; with a visible effort she checked herself – she was going to rush out towards him like a headless chicken, what would he think? Taking a breath, she faced forwards again after closing her eyes for a second and this time she did turn the handle towards her, fighting down a sudden surge of excitement as she recognised one of the two voices that percolated faintly through the wooden door; _that is definitely my son – he's come home at last_. The panel before her swung away; before the door was even half-open she'd squeezed her way around it, her eyes forwards and meeting those of the one she'd loved from the day she'd become aware of his existence. Stepping carefully down the garden path, she extended her arms, seeing him tail off in his conversation, the one beside him fading temporarily out of the picture as she echoed his action; her arms wide, she felt her son re-enter her bosom at the same time her feet left the floor a little. Feeling rather than hearing his deep-throated purr at the same time as greeting him cheek to cheek, she forced herself to blink a for a second before her throat managed to find the words that had lodged there and force them into the open,

"Alright there kitten?"

XXX

_Kitten_; as always Mighty was forced to look down at this stage, partly to give the reuniting mother and son the privacy they deserved but mostly so that neither of the two would notice her blossoming grin and shaking shoulders; _if I hadn't seen the pictures myself I'd have a hard time believing he'd ever been a kitten!_ That was certainly true; even as she brought her face up again Big was just returning his mother to the floor; though the armadillo knew from experience that Tia was the second-largest in her boyfriend's family, her eldest child still dwarfed her by some considerable margin, the same way he did virtually everyone else Mighty knew with the possible exception of Vector standing on tip-toe. The armadillo herself barely reached his elbow; in fact, now that she thought about it he'd been the first Mobian she'd ever clapped eyes on that had given her pause to doubt her own prodigious strength; even now, knowing for a fact that Big had very personal reasons for avoiding conflict as much as was possible, to say nothing of the fact that he was soft as spun sugar anyway, she wouldn't have backed herself in a straight fight against him; _especially after what he did to Metal – ripped that upgraded chest of his apart like it was tinfoil._ A twinge went off in her arm at the memory of the metallic hedgehog and she grimaced, forcing such thoughts from her mind as she rubbed the recently-healed injury absent-mindedly – as of right now, this trip was all about Big and his little sisters and she was going to be damned if she was going to let the memory of an oversized can-opener with an inferiority complex ruin it for either of them. _In fact, I owe him a favour_; suddenly the thought made her smile – rather than throwing the visions of Metal's attack on her away heedlessly, she was able to give a smug mental grin at them, wishing spitefully that wherever he was now the robot would somehow feel it and writhe at the good he'd unwittingly done; _if it hadn't been for him, we'd have never ended up in hospital together, he'd have never seen the impact his masterpiece had had…yeah, overall pal, thanks for that_.

She was so caught up in the pleasant daydream of Metal screeching in rage at how happy he'd unwittingly made her that only a sudden eclipse of the sun in front of her broke the spell; looking at the obstruction suddenly, the armadillo glanced away bashfully for a moment before regarding the Mobian in front of her again, grateful beyond words that Big's virtually unflappable temper had been inherited from his mother.

"And here's Mighty", Tia gave a smile, nothing more that that; like her son she had no hidden plans or cunning duplicitous factors to her personality; _what you see really is what you get_; smiling now, the armadillo gleefully reciprocated the embrace the tortoiseshell cat bestowed on her; _and believe me I'm grateful for that, from both of them_;

"Hello Tia", the armadillo greeted before being forced to hold her lips shut as something scratched along the side of her face gently; the last thing she wanted to do was risk one of the cat's whiskers getting caught around her teeth. It was unusual for her to be in this position – her normal way of saying hello consisted of an embrace similar to this and a quick peck on the cheek but, as Big had explained to her during one of the nights she'd stayed over in his marshland home, kissing was actually rather rare in cats. Aside from the risks of uprooting one of the sensitive whiskers on their muzzles, as carnivores by birth their teeth were naturally sharp and pointed; a friendly kiss could very easily result in a pierced lip for the unwary and thus most cats greeted as Tia was saying hello to her now, rubbing cheek against cheek in a quick, gentle motion. _Still, greeting's done cheek to cheek – never said anything about what happens in love and all that_; as the older cat pulled away from her Mighty had to fight to make sure there was nothing resembling a wickedly-guilty expression on her face that might cause Tia a measure of concern; _as far as I can work out there kissing's all above board!_

Such a thought nearly brought a grin wobbling to her lips but she just about managed to clamp it down, or at least if Big's mother did notice anything amiss about her expression she was too polite to mention it as she returned her attention to her eldest child, reaching for the small, battered bag he'd brought with him out of instinct, only remembering who she was dealing with when he drew it back and cleared his throat,

"No mum, the doctor said you had to watch your back remember?"

"Ah that was months ago; I'm off light duties now, thank anyone who lives up there for that", Mighty glanced up as the cat rolled her eyes heavenward for a second before continuing, "just pushing the mop bucket along and having to ask people to get a bloomin' pack of printer paper for me was driving me nuts".

"I can imagine", the armadillo chipped in, such a scenario in her mind making her shudder, "I couldn't hack a sedentary job at the best of times; that would have been the last straw for me I can tell you".

"It nearly was for me as well", Tia vigorously agreed, nodding sagely at her recollections with undisguised distaste, "it was only a little twinge for goodness' sake; the amount of fuss they were making over it you'd have thought I'd snapped my spine clean in half". Big raised a finger, wagging it back and forwards in a warning manner,

"Ah, but as Mr Trenton was very keen to impress on me almost from day one, in this day and age you can never be too careful; he nearly got done by someone who tried to take a picture frame off the wall and dropped it on his foot – tried to sue him for negligence or something just as stupid".

"Nothing happened I hope?"

"Nah; the guy backed down because of something to do with a counter-file for destruction of property or something like that; Mr Trenton wasn't too sparing with the details, just wanted it out of his hair and was glad to be rid of the whole problem", Big sighed in a world-weary manner; _you and me both pal – sometimes I really wonder if you haven't been right all along_; not for the first time Mighty shared her partner's dim view of society in general and, also not for the first time, she found herself slightly envious of his untroubled existence, alone in his self-imposed semi-isolation. Without realising it she realised she had copied his sigh and, having heard herself do so, she immediately came back down to earth with a bump and, recognising the conversation could quickly go down a dark alley, made a brave stab at changing track by pointing at the mower she could see laying idly by the side of garden shed,

"Hey, someone done the mowing?" She glanced around the grass before adding with a chuckle, "and if the answer to that's yes, they want shooting". _Good_; as Tia laughed and Big followed her eyes towards the lawnmower as well, Mighty realised her gambit had gone well, even more so as the lady cat shook her head at the appliance disapprovingly,

"Well it's not been done yet; Bill was going to keep spring going this year but the weather wasn't being co-operative – had a light shower, left the lawn too wet to mow". Big gave a low 'hmm' and headed towards the shed itself,

"Well it's been a fine day so far, should have dried out – I could…" A hand in front of his progress stopped him dead; despite the fact he could have simply bulldozed past it and barely noticed the impediment had ever been there, Big was not the sort of Mobian to rub his mother up the wrong way no matter how tall or strong he was,

"You'll do no such thing my lad, and neither will you greenie", having noticed Mighty's smirk at her boy, Tia was quick to level the playing field by reminding the armadillo of her occupation, "not until you've come in and had a hot cup of tea and slice of cake, fresh out the oven as well, you arrived just at the right time. You can let me know all about what's been going on as well; it's been a bit quiet out in this neck of the woods recently". At the mention of cake, both faces brightened, Big rubbing his dinner-plate sized hands together in evident glee,

"Lucky us"; _too right – if it was anything like the crumble she rustled up for us all last time…um,um,ummm_; "well then mum, lead on; that's a bargain I don't mind calling on". With a smile Tia beckoned them both forwards and without protest Big and Mighty fell into step behind her; as the front door loomed up before them, the cat felt a tap on his tail and glanced over his shoulder, reclining his head backwards to let Mighty whisper up to him,

"Your mum said about your dad keeping spring going – what's that about?" _Oh that – I forgot_; well actually he hadn't forgotten, that option wasn't available to him – he'd merely failed to take into account that Mighty, even getting on as well as she did get on with his family, had yet to be introduced to the more intricate and arcane superstitions of his clan. With a gruff chuckle he straightened up, shuffling to the side to let her go in ahead of him and answering as she slipped past,

"Just one of dad's little beliefs", he explained, the armadillo paying him rapt attention as she took her shoes off and placed them by the doormat, "as far as he's concerned spring doesn't start until the lawn's had its first trim and ends when he gives it it's last; quite funny really, one year when I was small by the time spring had started in his calendar it was early September – we were having the garden returfed". Mighty chuckled and shook her head, recognising the idea and comparing it to some of the more outlandish theories held by the rest of her beloved team of 'industrial-scale landscapers',

"Hmm, that's a new one on me, certainly a lot better that Vector's idea of seeing in the new season – doesn't leave a mess on the wall for one thing". She risked a look and grinned internally; much like one of the lures that Big used so often to bring his lunch onto his hook, that comment was completely irresistible,

"I just know I'm gonna…", he sighed, realising the futility of delaying the inevitable and putting his hands on his hips, elbows grazing the walls flanking him as he shook his head and did what needed to be done, "go on then; what's his tradition?" Mighty acted like she hadn't heard for a second, only giving as false start of surprised when a deep, ominous purr began to reach her ears,

"Sorry, what were…oh yeah, I remember now"; _you and what army pal – you'd never use those on me or anyone else in a million years_; still, as Big retracted the tiny hint of claw that had peeped out the fingers of his glove for a second, Mighty was only too aware that knowing something in your head isn't quite the same as believing it with your body – as her mother always said, your brain's not the one that does the hurting if it gets the call wrong. As such, she quickly moved on to the meat of the issue, Big's pretend anger dissipating like morning mist as she did so,

"As far as scaly's concerned, spring's only in the air when he's swatted the first housefly out of it; it was a big hairy bugger as well, didn't half make a mess when it splattered on his daily rag's crossword". Big shook with quiet laughter for a second before returning to a resemblance of solemnity, stroking his chin as though thinking hard,

"What did he do with the body, once he'd scraped it off the wall I mean?"

"Dunno"; _can't think where he's going with this_; completely wrong-footed by the query, the armadillo could only answer with the truth, "just threw it away I guess". The massive cat groaned, putting a hand to his head,

"Of all the waste; he could have given it to you – Froggy would have loved a treat like that just before we left, perfect going away present that, partially-digested blue-bottle, he'd have eaten it right out your hand".

"I'm sure he'll be able to let one go", the armadillo grated with an air of gentle mockery, jerking a thumb over her shoulder as she heard the soft click of a kettle being switched on in the room directly behind her, "anyway, right now I've got a date with a nice warm cuppa that I don't plan on missing, not after that train ride anyway".

"It wasn't that bad – okay maybe it was", Big sympathised as his other half glared up at him murderously, "come on, maybe the cake will soothe your recently ragged nerves".

"And my stomach; café food, yuck!" Pressing into the hallway wall, Mighty let the larger cat pass her before turning to follow him, right into the oncoming ambush.

XXX

Only the sudden rumble of thunder from above them both prevented the plummeting ordnance from devolving into a true death from above attack.

As Big, half-turning towards the source of the noise, was rocked back to his heels by the impact Mighty jumped backwards startled, almost crashing into the closed front door behind her as she tried frantically to work out what had happened, and more pressingly as far as she was concerned, what kind of missile was it that could possibly knock her boyfriend back a pace? Fortunately the arrival of a second assailant leaping into the fray cleared up the question for her and she let herself relax, the shock wearing off slightly as she recognised what was going on, her arms falling back to her side as she saw Big, as always balanced for a spilt-second so it seemed that he'd end up toppling backwards into, or even possibly through, the wall at his back, begin to teeter forwards once again, the movement gradual but gaining momentum until he finally impacted back to the floor again, settling down with a heavy thump as his two new burdens added to his already considerable weight. Finding it impossible to decipher who was who in the ruck of arms, legs and tails before her and knowing it would be equally as impossible to try to squeeze past this second reunion, the armadillo simply stood where she was, listening to the sudden chorus of purring from in front of her as Big's homecoming was completed; each locked in place around his neck with one arm, Sophie and Chloe, twin sisters identical to the last hair, welcomed their older brother back to the fold.

Eventually she managed to see differences in the embrace as it all slowly settled down; as Big faced away from her again, Mighty was able to easily see both twins, one on either of his shoulder, rub their cheeks against their brother's, one of them speaking as she did so,

"Hey Big bro", the older cat purred at the mention of his name, his ear twitching to shadow his sister's face like an overhanging umbrella as he slowly began to lower them both to the floor, "glad you could make it".

"Like I'd miss you two coming of age at last, in the physical sense at least", both sisters hissed at the implied insult as they now stood in front of their brother, light marmalade fur standing on end in and quivering in response to Big's cutting insult; into this position of relative calm, Mighty was able to get a word in edgeways, peering around her partner's bulk to see the two younger cat girls,

"Hey you two; everything going all right?" Both waved back; _okay, going on this I think the one on the right's Chloe_; Mighty returned the waves with a cheery smile and wink, all the time trying to put a name to each of the two cats in front of her as their tails were obscured. Despite being identical, there were differences in the way the pair of them behaved and, as far as the armadillo could make out from her relatively slight experiences of the pair of them, Sophie was the slightly more extrovert of the two; as the twin on her left hand side now had given the more enthusiastic greeting, she'd have placed better than even odds that she had a handle on which one was which. Big, of course, never had a problem telling them apart and Mighty felt herself flush with vindication as she noticed him smile benignly at the right-hand twin, chivvying her slight apprehension along with a quick question,

"Hey Chloe, how's school been; don't tell me they're still making you wear gloves in your P.E. classes still?" The other cat snorted, breaking out of her shell easily in indignation of what she perceived as an insult to her temper,

"Too right they are, in fact they've only gone and extended the damn ban", as she turned around to follow her sister into the kitchen Mighty caught a glimpse of her tail and nodded to herself; the tip of the fifth limb was resolutely marmalade and therefore it was definitely Chloe speaking, adopting a high, falsetto voice to mock the announcement of draconic new measures to prevent accidents at her school, "'from now on, all Mobians with claws or sharpened nails will, without exception, continue to wear their gloves at all times, even whilst performing sports' – how stupid is that? They don't use their eyes teachers; a lot of the girls there have got nails sharper and longer than my claws have ever been".

"Well, if it saves one life…" Mighty began, chuckling as both younger cats looked over their shoulders in unison, distaste and disgust written large over their faces before Sophie condensed such emotions into words,

"Save a life my left foot, do you know how hard it is to hold a badminton racket when you're got gloves on, especially in the middle of a match when you're starting to get a bit of a sweat on? And anyway, she nicked the guy", Chloe snarled a little as her twin pointed her out with an accusatory finger, "why are we all ending up in hot water over what she did?"

"Because you'd have done exactly the same in her position; in fact you'd probably have done worse", Tia's voice called from the kitchen, reining in the mutinous mutterings of her daughters towards the education system in general, "and you can moan all you like about the rules, they won't change for anyone so you better get used to them", her voice fell silent for a moment before, after a short pause, it came back, slightly more mollified than previously, "even if the nasty little nerk was asking for a good back-hander". Chloe beamed in her mother's vindication as Sophie merely shrugged and Mighty, having been informed of the situation on the trip down by her partner, gave a short laugh,

"Too right he was; if anything you should have clobbered him harder", she advised the grinning, obviously unrepentant twin, "take it from me, people only ever pull my tail once", of course, that was a cue Big had to take; a couple of seconds later, in a silence punctuated only by the badly-stifled giggling of a duo of cat-girls, Mighty opened her screwed-shut eyes again and, smiling wickedly even through her blush, spoke in a tone laden with dark promise and certainty,

"Girls, go into the kitchen and shut the door please".

"Why?" Sophie teased nettingly, trying hard not to laugh at both the armadillo cracking her knuckles and her brother trying to look innocent from just behind her.

"Because, sixteen you both may be", Mighty began, her wicked grin reaching terrifying lengths now as even Big backed up a pace or two, "but the following scene of retribution contains gratuitous violence and explicit language, and is therefore unviewable by anyone who isn't me!"

XXX

A couple of hours later, having settled down once more following the completion of a couple of household duties that couldn't be ignored, Tia cast her eyes to clock once again and sighed; _no, he's not going to make it – bus must be late or something, and tonight of all nights as well_. She risked a final glance at her creation on the stove, appraised the situation for a moment before shaking her head; it simply wouldn't do to leave it any longer or the lasagne would lose too much heat – Bill would just have to microwave his portion when he finally arrived home.

"Chloe", a quick patter of feet from behind her let her know that one of her daughters had answered the summons, "set the table would you? I'm just set to dish up – tell everyone else to scrub paws and get sat down".

"Sure"; with that load of her mind Tia dismissed it from her mind and set about cutting the dish before her into easily-servable portions – the cutlery draw rattled for a second before the relative calm of the kitchen was shattered, "hey everyone…"

"No Chloe", with a long-suffering sigh and shake of her head, the purple cat looked over her shoulder to better inform her marmalade daughter, "go and tell them, don't shout at them; it's not polite".

"And you reckon Soph's is? No, kidding, point made", birthday girl or not, the comparative kitten was still sharp enough to know when she was testing her mother's patience, "I'll get them when the table's laid".

"Good, this won't be long", Tia assured her before turning her attention back to the task in hand, dexterously wielding a combination of knife and ladle to ensure the transition of lasagne from baking tray to six independent plates went smoothly and with the loss of only a few drips of tasty gravy to the countertop. This was done in less than a minute, the chef then quickly taking a little time to place the now-empty baking tray in the sink and run in a little cold water to soak the worst of the soiling away before placing one of the plates in the microwave; though she knew from long experience that the time her husband arrived home from his daily labours was a slave to the condition of the rush-hour roads, she seriously doubted he'd be much later home than quarter of an hour from now. Leaning back to take a quick glance into the dining area adjoining the kitchen Tia realised that all were present and correct at the same time Big noticed her movement; without another word he'd stood up and shuffled past Mighty and into the kitchen to help her.

_Thanks son_; as always the simple little gestures like this hit her the hardest; it was suddenly a real struggle to smile as she scooped up two of the plates with her back to her son, not wanting him to see the battle she was having to undertake to make sure her hands didn't shake as she picked up two of the dishes because she knew how much it would hurt him, would continue to hurt him in the future no matter how much he tried to dismiss worries such as these as groundless for her benefit. For that reason she kept the pain she felt even now hidden; she knew why he'd done what he had, she'd even had a hand in making sure the path he'd set for himself could be made real for him despite the fact that his retreat from the evils of the world had crushed her heart sorely; no mother should be forced to see a son leave the nest so soon in his life. But she had seen it and it had hurt her deeply but she would not let him see such wounds – the barest inkling of unguarded feelings around him would have been enough, frozen in his perfect memory, to open up the ways to all kinds of self-guilt and remorse that he didn't deserve, not after all he had lived through already. Thus it was with a quiet intake of breath that Tia turned back around, seeing the face she still loved framed atop a powerful body forged into steel by the rigours of his outdoor life, and held out the two plates for him to take, a few directions guiding his next few steps along the path,

"These are your sisters, doesn't matter which, they're the same".

"No they're not", Big quipped with a chuckle as he craned his neck back to see into the dining room again, "they might look alike but you of all people should…"

"The meals you wally; they're as different as black and white, everyone who knows them could tell you that", Tia commented at her disingenuous offspring, pointing towards the table with a chiding hand, "now get before the food goes cold".

"Okay I'm off, I'm off"; as much as it was possible for one of his stature, Big sloped away towards the table, two gasps of anticipation and words of thanks greeting his appearance there. Tia followed a moment later, making sure she was in full control of herself once more, setting the facts straight in her own head; _it's not like the whole world came down when he left – if anything he's been going from strength to strength. He's fit as a fiddle, just like he always has been and thanks to Mr Trenton he's got a good career looking up for him now – always knew that man would come good for him. And above all that nonsense_; it was as the elder cat walked through the doorway herself, skilfully balancing the remaining three plates in her two hands, that her gaze fell for a second on one of the table, her guest thankfully not noticing Tia's momentary pause as most of her internal self-doubt and pain was sheared away, the majority of the mental weed pruned back to almost nothing, leaving behind only a tiny, wrinkled seed for the moment; _he's found someone else out there for him now – I might be his mother, but he's grown up into his own man and…_;

"Oh, thank you Tia", Mighty smiled up at her partner's mother as she set a plate down in front of her, the delicious aroma of the dish steaming up to greet her and setting her mouth watering, "save the washing up for me and I mean it; if this tastes as good as it smells it'll be the least I can do";_… as far as I'm concerned he's unearthed a real gem in you Michelle Armadillo – just proves that old saying 'the only time you're guaranteed to find someone is when you're not really looking'._

XXX

"So, mum", looking across from where she had been listening to Mighty trying to convince her daughters that her career in industrial landscaping did not make her a glorified gardener, Tia's attention quickly refocused onto her only son, "is the doc sure that back of yours in completely under control?"

"Oh yes, just like he said really", idly tapping the side of her fork against one of her canines, the clinking sound helping her shape her answer as she tried to recall exactly what the GP's diagnosis had been, "inflamed sciatic nerve was his opinion; just gave me a prescription for some anti-inflammatory pills and told me to stick to light duties only. I didn't really have a choice in that though; if it twinged at all I couldn't hold anything anyway, just seized up for a second; dropped a bucket full of water once, took ages to mop it up right".

"It didn't hurt did it? You should have taken some sick leave if it was stopping you that much".

"No, it was really strange really, like half of me went completely dead", recalling the periodic weakness that had swept through one side of her body not so long ago, the older of the two talking cats tried to put such an experience into words that could convey both the alien numbness that had half-crippled her and the feeling of shamed helplessness that such a condition instilled in her, "my entire left side, it just stopped working all of a sudden; all I could feel was a right needle of pain, all the way down my left leg – I couldn't walk or anything, sent me tail over nose more than once. You couldn't predict it either, that was the worst thing; I'd be right as rain one minute and the next I'd have to sit everything out – I was just lucky one of the other girls lived nearby, I didn't dare drive at all while all this was going on. Your father had to pick me up when she wasn't on my shift though – I wasn't going to risk anything until I was sure the doctor was going to give me the all clear".

"Best way to be; better safe than sorry", Big assured her sagely before giving a shrug, "anyway, I doubt dad would have even let you drive until you were well again". Tia gave a disdainful snort even if, in her heart of hearts, she knew her husband had only had her best interests at heart when he'd done what he had,

"He didn't, in fact he confiscated my car keys for months. I can't believe he made me get a doctor's note before he gave them back to me", Big's shoulders shook; _yep, that's got dad written all over it that one_; "still, I suppose he was right in the end".

"Yeah, he was, especially because it was your left side going out of action all the time; could you imagine accidentally hitting the clutch going around a sharp bend?" Tia shuddered and flattened her ears,

"I try not to"; a flash of movement caught the corner of her eye and, focussing on it, she quickly offered the salt shaker forwards, "sorry Mighty, did you want this?"

"Huh?" Seeing the item being offered with her fork halfway to her lips, the armadillo quickly shook her head, "no, sorry Tia", she broke off to quickly swallow her latest mouthful, smacking her lips as the last of the gravy trickled down the bottom of her throat, "umm, this is a delicious lasagne; no, I was just showing Chloe how to throw a decent right cross, just in case anyone else decided they want to try it on with her".

"Yeah", one of the two twins backed her up, stabbing out her arm over the tabletop as a demonstration, "snap it out and twist your hip as you do so, get as much power as possible behind it".

"If you got half as much power behind your fist as you do behind your lip you'd hit harder than she does", Big retorted, nodding at his girlfriend as Mighty just about stifled her giggling fit, the cat girl sat beside her glaring at her sibling, "anyway, no fighting at the table, unless you've relaxed that rule mum?"

"Not a chance of that; you three, and yes that does mean you", the twin at the head of the table gave a look that was a picture of appalled innocence as her mother singled her out, though such a charade couldn't last long under Tia's stern look and she quickly fell into line, looking down to join her sister and Mighty in such an abashed position, "no fighting, or even fighting talk, at the dinner table; anyway", a slight chuckle broke through the mother's mask of impassiveness, making all three penitents look up, "I doubt he'd try anything on with my little girls now, either of them".

"Just as well; I'd have ripped his face off if he'd yanked on my tail", Sophie assured the table at large, bringing up her fifth limb as she did so, the tip of it still peroxided white to set her apart from her sister in a physical sense, " no-one touches this and gets away with it unless I tell them to, speaking of which", bringing the tip of her tail up for closer inspection, she let it drop with a sigh before turning to her mother, "better break out the old hearth rug and the bleach mum, needs a touch up for tomorrow".

"You can do that tonight, after the washing up; nice try"; _damn, foiled again_; recognising her gamble for getting out of the nightly chores had once more resulted in fruitlessness, Sophie merely shrugged and returned to the serious business of enjoying the fruits of her mothers' labours; before she'd eaten much more than three or so more bites, however, the meal at large was interrupted by the sound of a handle turning – before anyone present could connect words to mouth, there was the noise of a heavy door being opened and a voice called out,

"Evening kitties". The result was immediate; without hesitation three voices rang out to answer the greeting, Big's deep sonorous booming backing up the shriller tones of his sisters.

"Hi dad".

XXX

_Ah, every time_; just after she lowered her eyes Mighty shook her head – it seemed that no matter how often she reminded herself mentally about her boyfriend's father her mind always contrived to forget the message. Her vision had been trained at a point just under the jamb of the kitchen door and as such Bill had simply walked straight under it; only just taller than his two daughters, the main breadwinner of the household was as far removed from his son's hulking profile as it was possible to get. He was, compared to his eldest child at least, so ridiculously tiny that Tia had to lean down slightly from her seat so he could stretch up and bring his cheek into contact with hers, marmalade tabby fur ruffling through tortoiseshell purple for a second before he took a step backwards and appraised his wife, smiling all the time,

"In the microwave is it T? No, don't you dare", he raised a finger as Tia made to stand up, waving her back down as she made to fetch his food for him, "I'll get it in a second, right after", turning his attention from her, his bright hazel eyes twinkling down the length of the main table as he paced inexorably towards the newest arrival to the family feast, "I've said my piece here – hello son", this time the two cats only shook hands, the hello slightly more constrained than earlier as Bill slid his hand as far up his son's arm as he could comfortably reach, "it's good to see you again after so long – how's old Trenty doing now?"

"Hi dad; Mr Trenton's, well, it is arthritis but", the future picture-framer held up a strong finger before the mood of depression could linger at all around the table, "the doctor says it's not advancing at all fast; he's easily got at least another couple of years in him yet".

"More than enough to get you all trained up then", curiosity satisfied, Bill swatted the well-padded arm gently before looking down the table the other way, "alright there greenie, how's the business?" Mighty grimaced at the nickname; it had been Bill's invention after all; _somehow I knew that description of my job was going to come back and bite me – still, I couldn't exactly say I'm part of a unique team of Mobians who's sole purpose is to help guard the most powerful treasure in the world could I?_;

"It's going well", she said shortly, hoping he'd leave it at that – unfortunately, though a lot more restrained than the vast majority of her other friends, Bill did have a bit of an edge to his humour that was absent in his wife and son and as his grin edged slightly wider, the armadillo was pretty certain she was going to be feeling the full bite of such witticisms,

"Good to hear that is; plenty of work for those green fingers of yours I hope?" A snort just to the side of her alerted Mighty to what was going on at the head of the table; _okay, Big's sister or not that is going too far!_; and allowed her to quickly shape her answer,

"Oh yeah, plenty, but what people should remember though is that these green fingers of mine can very easily clench into a pretty big green fist", almost without meaning to the armadillo caught a glimpse of Sophie very swiftly retracting her pinkie from where it had been lurking insinuatingly just under her right nostril from the corner of her eye, "and, green or not, that fist can do a heck of a lot of damage". Bill merely laughed, enjoying matching wits with his guest and quickly tracking around the table towards her, offering his hand as he did so,

"So I gather from what Big tells me", Mighty tried to hold in a smile as she felt her hand taken, the older Mobian's paw almost swallowed whole by the armadillo's paw as she closed it softly around his, "been uprooting anything much recently?"

"Nah, only a couple of small hickory nut trees; oh damn, sorry, I always forget"; _knew I left something behind_; once more Mighty realised she'd forgotten to bring the hickory nuts she'd harvested with her – the first time she'd actually been invited to accompany Big on one of his homecomings she'd ended up challenging both the girls that hickory nuts really were as sour as she was making out and promised to bring them a handful to prove it. Both cats laughed, Chloe indicating her with a faintly mocking ring in her voice,

"You need to remember to tell Big about things like this; he'd never let you forgot".

"He doesn't, believe me", the Chaotix moaned with a resigned sigh, her plated head shaking as she rued another mistake made, "I knew the second I saw him something was missing but could I put my finger on it? Anyway, enough of sounding off on me, you", Bill jumped to attention as his son's girlfriend pointed him out with an air of authority, "go get your dinner; Tia put her heart and soul into this – if any goes to waste it'll be a travesty". Chuckling, Bill left for the kitchen, speaking over his shoulder as he exited the dining room,

"Looks like you've got yourself a fan there T".

"Makes a change from the rest of you ungrateful rabble", the matriarch of the family raised her voice to call back her other half; both twins huffed affronted as the sound of their father laughing was quickly joined by the humming of the microwave powering up.

"Now you know that's not true, we're all grateful; we just hide it very well", Tia rolled her eyes before casting Mighty a glance that spoke ten thousand words, "but that's bye-the-bye; I know what I was going to say…"

"First time for everything there dad"; as the rest of the table hastily set about disguising sniggers from Sophie's comment a dangerous pause sidled out from the kitchen, the calm before the ominous storm before Bill continued darkly,

"…apart from no sweets tonight, was that has someone done the lawn?"

"Yep", Big sat back in his chair carefully having finished his meal, hands slowly patting his rotund midsection, "just ran the mower over it after we got the stuff settled down, oh and the beds are set up again".

"Good lad, and thanks a lot Mighty", there was a loud, crisp ping as the microwave finished, "I speak from experience when I say it's a devil of a job trying to get that bunk-bed set up, especially when T's gone and thrown her back out of joint". The armadillo smiled, recalling the fun she'd had no more than a half-hour earlier; helping Big shift one of the twin's beds into the other twins room and from there, guided by Sophie's more enthusiastic than accurate directions, slotting the two former bunk-beds together again to secure sleeping arrangements for the night for everyone,

"No problem, just what I needed in fact after the train trip here. I was dying for a bit of a work out; I could barely stretch my legs it was that bad".

"And believe me it only gets worse the shorter the distance you have to go", Bill assured her, reappearing in the kitchen doorway with a steaming plate in one hand a pair of utensils in the other, taking a seat beside his son and Big pulled to the side to give him some room, "bloody bus, that's the third time it's been late this month and the new driver's a…well, not someone I'd buy a pint for put it like that".

"That good huh? Be lucky you're not on the school buses then dad", Chloe informed him with a long-suffering air about her, "all the drivers are like that".

"Much like the teachers", Tia chipped in on her daughter's behalf, Bill pricking his ears at the news, "they've extended that ban dear". He rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh,

"For what; it's not like she, er…, she did anything other than just, do what the law lets her get away with", Bill finished somewhat lamely; thankfully, rubbing his neck as he was, Big never saw his father's eyes dart towards him for a second, Mighty's following suit and knowing immediately why this was tricky ground; _every time I think I might want a memory like his, it's only then I remember…_

XXX

Mighty gave a slight shiver, recalling what had been said to her on that long, terrible walk back to the station that would eventually deliver the two battered and traumatised Mobians to the Station Square general infirmary; Metal's attack had been swift and savage, catching her completely unprepared and in the open – only Big risking his life and, more than that, his very mind had been able to beat the robotic sadist off. The armadillo had come to in the cat's arms, her own broken limb splinted to the remains of what had once been Big's treasured fishing rod to prevent further damage and only then, in the aftermath of his physical battle had he finally let her in, revealed the festering mental wounds that, in his eyes, would never scar over; his perfect memory would damn him eternally. Blessed with his effortless recall, he had poisoned, that had been the word he'd used, poisoned the gift that had the potential to make him one of the most famous artists alive in the world by staining such a crystal memory with the crimson of spilt blood; in a moment of rage, made furious by his first serious artwork being defaced and destroyed by an ignorant brat, the school-Mobian Big had lost control and at long last wreaked terrible revenge on the one who had wronged him.

Only his species, that of one of nature's finest predators, had resulted in such a horrific outcome; had he been a human or an inoffensive animal such as a mouse, or even another armadillo in fact, his fate would have been so very different. Instead with his claws drenched vermillion and unable to forget what he had done to someone, a living, breathing person despite whatever crimes he had committed, the cat's only choice had been to run; though spared any charges by both his previous conduct and widespread knowledge of all he had endured stoically to that point, the damage had been more than done. He had left behind all that he'd loved and all that he'd hated together, begun afresh in a new, isolated place; his contact with anyone had been minimal and for the most part wholly accidental – heck, if anything the only reason Mighty had ever found him in the first place had been due to her own totally hopeless sense of direction leading her astray on the way to Mystic Ruins. All this had come spilling out like rank pus from a rotting wound, painful, unbearable to him as he couldn't forget the horrors in his head; even now, no more than four months after the incident Mighty's recollections of Metal Sonic's attempt on, if not her life then certainly her future, had receded to the point of being little more than a half-remembered nightmare – imagining or even trying to imagine having to live with them every day of her life made even her steel nerves quail and quake. Yet Big had been given no choice; unable to forget and certainly unable to forgive himself, he had soldiered on resolutely up until that point and, when life and death had hung in the balance, he'd been able to release his inner demon, the reviled, revolting aspect of his nature that he normally subsumed so well, commanding his feral, primal instincts against his foe to save her and that wild force, with such powerful hands to break and claws to shred, with sharp teeth to bite and limbs to lash, had virtually torn Metal Sonic to ribbons even if the mnemonic pain, the agony of having to lose himself in such reckless hatred once more, had almost shattered his sanity.

_Then it was my turn_; once more Mighty could almost hear the conversation she'd had with herself in the back of the ambulance; she now knew what was wrong and equally she knew she had to do something about it; what could or should she do? Only a nurse's innocent question had given her the spark; at her directions all the pieces had come together and on that same night, not a second too soon in her eyes, the recipients of Big's ultimate masterpiece, a unique gift of a lifetime to commemorate a unique moment in two lifetimes, eloquently titled The End of the Hunt, had been united with its creator. She herself had not been present at the occasion itself but when she had finally been able to pluck up the courage to enter the cat's hospital room, her relief that her thought had come to such fruition was elational, almost enough to make her pass out again. Such had been the power of his enlightened smile, placed there as for the first time he'd seen the massive impact his work had imparted to the ones he had delivered it to, that the armadillo had been immediately transcended away from such insignificant concerns such as her still-broken arm; instead she had been consumed utterly from within, if she hadn't loved the cat before that moment she hadn't stopped loving him since. Their first kiss had been enough to let her try her hand at drawing herself; though a crude, clumsy sketch by the cat's impossible standards, every time she had visited him at his Mystic Ruins home her heart had swelled a little more with pride; Big could have decorated his home with masterpieces enough to make a collector of a hundred years weep, yet he respected and cared for her feelings enough to make sure that her feeble effort, the only decoration he really had at his home, was mounted proudly above his bed, guaranteed top billing. Every time she thought of it, her work in the home of, as Mr Trenton had often commented, the artist of his generation; it was enough to…

XXX

She blinked; something knocked her elbow again and she tuned to it this time, tuning in reality once more and hearing Chloe's voice this time as the cat girl asked her question again,

"Plate?"

"Huh?"; it was all the armadillo was able to come up with at such short notice – only when the exasperated kitten pointed to the empty tray just under her chin did she understand and answer properly, "oh, yes I'm finished, thank you Chloe". The twin favoured her with an 'I-know' sort of look as she accepted the dish; for a brief second Mighty hoped she'd got away with her momentary lapse into history, a second that came to a very abrupt end at the sound of a snigger,

"Yep, she was miles away", Bill chuckled, Big echoing his father's smirk to a lesser extent with even the usually supportive Tia having to look away to hide her smile, "meditating where you Mighty? Let me guess", the head of the table nodded insinuatingly towards his son, "Big was right in your line of enlightenment – he must have been the way you were staring right through him".

"Actually I was, er, lost in thought"; _that at least is true_; "I was just thinking, that is, Chloe doing what she did reminded me of the way we actually ended up getting together". The Chaotix nodded at her partner, fingers tightly crossed under the table and after jolting his memory and sifting the truth from the fiction he had to weave, Big returned the nod with a sad smile,

"Yeah, we've all got to get our claws dirty at some time or another; just lucky our guy knew what was good for him and backed off – if he'd actually gone for her", the cat flattened his ears, grimacing as Mighty rolled her eyes, "they'd have been passing him into the back of the ambulance with a pooper-scoop if he'd tried to get a piece – one punch would have spread him all over the nearest wall and most of the pavement".

"What can is say; I have a highly refined clientele and he most definitely did not qualify", Mighty took a sip of her tea as most of the family around her chortled, Big meeting her eyes for an instant and accepting her silent thanks with a raise of his eyebrows; _cheers mate – now you've dug me out of a hole as well as dragged me out of a ditch!_

Just as the armadillo had been more than a little apprehensive of revealing her true employment details, both she and her massive consort had been keen to shield the cat's family from the true reason behind their getting together; fortunately with a little brainwork between them, they had managed to come up with a solution that was both convincing enough to be easily believable and, more importantly, close enough to the truth to vindicate either of them from being called outright liars. As far as Big's family, and her own for that matter from the contact she'd had with them; _mind you, soon have the big one to do something about that_; knew, she was an industrial-scale landscaper employed on Angel Island who had met Big one night when some drunken fool had come at her when she'd been visiting friends in Station Square. He'd been in the vicinity and come to the rescue of the inebriated pillock before Mighty had completely lost her temper, and, with the problem dealt with, the two had become chatty and, as Sophie had coined the phrase, the rest had been history. It was a simple, elegant solution and had been completely watertight, not that it had had to hold much water so far; the rest of her closest friend's family were so thrilled that he'd managed to hook someone like her they weren't exactly bothered by the detailed reasons behind how they had ended up together; _look at the now, not the then – another gem of yours mum._ Chastised by her previous inattention, Mighty was galvanised by the sound of Tia's voice once more, ignoring the assorted clanks and squeaks as Bill and one of his sisters cleared the table of the first course,

"Now, got a bit of a selection for tonight's afters; Mighty, you're the guest", the armadillo squirmed in her seat, almost turning tomato red as the advent of proper manners, a commodity sadly lacking amongst her rough-and-ready flatmates, caught her slightly flat-footed, "what would you like; I've got some nice ice-cream in the freezer, a bread and butter pudding on the side and, girls what did we have last night, my memory's having a minute?" Sophie tutted and shook her head,

"Oh dear, that's always the way it goes; first the sciatic nerve goes and the senility quickly follows it"; Tia's face darkened towards her impudent daughter before Bill stepped in to save his errant offspring,

"It was a rhubarb crumble love, and did I smell custard when I was washing my hands?"

"You did", his wife assured him before giving her attention back to her guest, cheerfully beaming once more, "that's cold in the fridge, so, the choice is yours". Mighty glanced around for a second before giving a nervous chuckle,

"Boy", her tongue flicked over her lip for a second, completely unsure as to which of the delicious dishes she should pick, "put me on the spot why don't you? Err, little help anyone…?"

XXX

_All I ask is that you share what's left of the crumble – it's not like I want you to halve all your worldly possessions between yourselves_; acutely aware of how well this display of sibling obstinacy would be going down with her guest and all the more embarrassed because of it, Tia was on the verge of denying her squabbling daughters anything else at all when, to the surprise of everyone present and herself most of all, a new voice broke up the monotonous procession of claim, furious denial, counter-claim and equally furious denial,

"Hold it; armadillo logic to the fore…" Big groaned, one hand ascending to cover his eyes,

"Oh no, anything but the armadillo logic"; fastidiously ignoring him, Mighty carried on, waving the two girls towards the kitchen,

"Right, you pair, go and get the whole crumble and, Bill you said you wanted some?"

"Too right I do", the elder cat assured her before his scathing glare whipped out over his daughters, "but the rate that pair are going I'm sorely tempted to say they can go hungry arguing and I'll have the whole lot".

"No need for that; off you go, the crumble and three sets of bowls and spoons", Mighty appeased him knowingly before pointing Sophie and Chloe on their collective way, Big hiding a smirk with his hand as his sisters both departed, a frenzied whispering conversation trying to second-guess the armadillo's intentions at the same time he was; _armadillo logic – well, whatever it is chances are it'll work_. From his numerous experiences with that turn of phrase and its examples, the fisherMobian was reasonably sure that it would be a straightforward, though not necessarily pleasant, solution to the problem present. With a soft thump the fridge was closed and a second later both cat girls appeared in the dining room again, one holding the crumble, the other with a trio of bowls and spoon and neither looking exactly sure about what to do next as Mighty beckoned them towards the table,

"Right, sort your dad out"; both twins exchanged a glance before getting to work – Bill murmured his thanks a moment later as his son placed a bowlful of crumble in front of him, his attention like everyone else's fixed on what was about to transpired; from the smile on her face, he'd have wagered that Mighty must have had something big up her sleeve,

"Okay, as for you pair; Chloe", the cat with the serving spoon glanced up almost fearfully, quivering as she tried to anticipate what was coming next, "you divide what's left in half; Sophie, you get first pick", her master stroke completed, the Chaotix looked away from them both to beam wickedly across the table at large, "now I can guarantee that what's left will be cut exactly in half".

A split-second of dumbfounded silence followed this proclamation, then Tia howled with a sudden gust of laughter, her husband rapidly joining in as she reached across the table, offering a hand that the triumph-flushed Mighty gladly shook,

"Now that", the cat choked for a second before speaking clearly again, "that really is an absolute pearl; all those arguments about who got the bigger slice of cake, all over, all finally over. Thanks a million Michelle, you've just saved this family a lot of grief".

"My pleasure", normally she might have been embarrassed but the sight of even the two twin starting to snicker even if they were the butt of the logical joke emboldened her somewhat, "just a shame that my mum never had a chance to use that one with the family".

"You were an only child weren't you? Never had anyone to fight with?" Bill commented, wiping his eyes a little as Mighty nodded,

"Well, yes and no", after taking a minute to put her thoughts in order she extrapolated on her enigmatic answer, "no I never had any brothers or sisters to scrap around with and that was probably a good thing overall, but there were always cousins, nephews and the like so I never missed out on the whole 'together-under-the-same-roof' thing, squabbles and all". Big smiled and winked across the table at his partner,

"Probably just as well; nothing like a bit of a family to-do for getting some wind in your sails, or, in this case", he gave his sisters, both still under the blanket of shame for their earlier misconduct, a hint of a smug smile, "getting it taken out of there". Mighty echoed his grin and snatched up the last of her water in the glass before her,

"I'll drink to that; believe me I'd have a good go at anyone under the sun but only a complete idiot wants to get in the middle of an armadillo family dispute, least of all when the fur really starts flying"; _and with a bit of luck_; even as she drank she never let her boyfriend drop from her vision; _you'll be able to see how true that is a bit later on._

XXX

It was only later that night, as she reclined on the recently pumped up air-mattress and looked into the warm, ever-so-slightly cheeky eyes of the Robbie Williams poster splashed across the opposite wall, that Mighty allowed herself to dream about the reactions to her proposal tomorrow. Crossing her hands behind the shell where the back of her head should have been, the armadillo glanced around the rest of what had until very recently been Chloe's room; much like any teenagers, it was liberally adorned with the pictures of bands that she'd never even heard of and little mementos symbolising the friends she'd made and the trials she had to endure as part of a daily life. A slight sigh escaped Mighty's lips as she recalled why she had been given this room, why Chloe had moved in with Sophie rather than vice-versa to accommodate her; _once, a long time ago, this was Big's room. This house only has three bedrooms, so his mum and dad had one, he had this one and his little sisters shared the third – when he moved on though_; once more a stab of sympathetic pain pierced her heart – somehow her mind's eye could acutely visualise the youngster Big having to leave his family home for what he had thought would have been the last time, running away to start afresh in a strange new world where his sins would be hidden, unblackening his name once more even if his memory was still as sullied as it ever had been; _Chloe moved out into here_.

She rolled onto her side sadly, recalling the fun she'd had reconnecting the two former bunk beds together to allow the two twins the ability to sleep together in the same room again at the same time that her mind wandered downstairs for a moment; by necessity more than anything else, Big was kipping on the fold-out sofa as it was the only receptacle in the house large enough for him to enjoy his repose on. She felt mixed up and agitated, happy and sad at the same time; sad that Big had ever been forced to leave but at the same time glad that he was now home, back where he belonged with his family and that she'd managed to be blessed enough to find him as well; almost as much as his painting had enriched the lives of those who had seen it, his whole personality had been a tonic to her own life, visiting him a joy unlike any she'd ever really experienced before. Added to that pair of warring adders were the thoughts of her question tomorrow, to say nothing of the varied and bi-polar reactions her feverish imagination was letting run riot in her mind; it all came to a mind that weighed down on her brain even more heavily than her shell did her body. Shifting her eyes to the clock on the wall Mighty gritted her teeth; it was coming up to midnight and sleep was miles away – the video the twins had picked as the first part of their birthday treat seemed to have been run months ago, she could barely remember anything that had happened in it at all. With a huff she finally gave up on sleep at all; kicking her way out of the covers, the armadillo stalked bad-temperedly across the room to the duffel bag she'd brought with her and rummaged around in one of the pockets, trying to work by her sense of touch in the darkness. Luckily what she wanted was the only thing in that pocket and she hurriedly retreated back into bed with it, the nip in the air making her shiver a little as it was still too early in the year to put the heating on. Softly clicking on the bedside lamp, careful not to make any noise in case she disturbed anyone else fitfully dreaming, Mighty quickly flipped her novel over and tugged on the bookmark, the pages falling open to where she needed them to be and her finger tracing under the words she'd last read.

Slowly the combination of the electric bulb and the words on the page in front of her worked their subtle magic; eventually her reading speed began to grind down, her eyelids drooping lower and lower as the pent-up emotions within her were expelled by her eyes, her brain frantically devouring the text before her to assuage the stress on her mind. At the end of it all it was only a Herculean effort of her mind as the book fell to the floor from her leaden fingers that allowed her to reach out and snagged the cord of the light to the side of her; it was only the dead weight of her hand that tugged the illumination off, sleep finally claiming her as the tides of time washed overhead, speeding along to the new dawn and the celebrations that awaited every member of her temporary family there.

A/N: Okay, I know there were a lot of OC's up there and there will be a lot more to come this story; let me know if they're all believable, please – I gladly take criticism as long as it improves my art. For the full story behind the get-together of this coupling check out Iron Skin, Golden Heart; as some of my reviewers pointed out, Big was (and in my opinion still is) treated rather scathingly by the fanfiction community in general, Mighty a little less so but still with less respect than I think they both deserve. This is an attempt to give them some real character, feelings, family and history; did I succeed? And what is weighing so heavily on Mighty's mind – answers next chapter!


	2. Chapter 2 Cold Ice and Red Faces

Chapter 2 – Cold Ice and Red Faces.

A/N: Been a little while I know but hopefully this offering will be worth it. Still, as always, first words to the reviewers:

Ri2: Wow, lots of questions, but I think I can answer the main ones: Mighty punishes Big because, just after she says people only pull her tail once he goes and does just that; as far as Bill knows, Mighty's job description is industrial landscaper – ergo, she has a gardeners green fingers; no, Espio doesn't eat flies (least of all ones that have been crushed against a wall by Vector in a bad mood)!

HHH – Welcome back; I hope your hiatus was a fruitful one! Your point about personality mirrors is a very valid one, but at the same time I perhaps think the phrase personality clones is slightly more valid. Think about it; you and your friends and family must have things that are similar about you – if you were completely different, with no neutral ground, chances are you wouldn't be friendly. This slight personality overlapping, or mirroring, is believable but only to a certain degree; personality clones, where the characters are all identically alike, is a very bad and non-believable thing – everyone's got to have a few little quirks and flaws, just to make them different. That's what I aim for when looking to cerate and OC; hopefully they all appear like that so far in the story, even the identical twins are slightly different from each other! Anyway, glad to have you back and, if I remember rightly you're a massive Shadow nut; in that case, I suggest you read the conclusion of A Pair of Second Chances!

BC – Fighting huh – never a good thing that, for the simple reason that no matter if you were just defending yourself you always get hammered as much as the guy who started it. Unless you're clever…a little technique I used at school was a little diary, small enough to fit into my pocket; whenever anything was said or someone started insulting me, I'd go off to a quiet corner and note down time, date, and name of the insulter along with what he said. I also kept record of when I went to teachers and suchlike so that, when anything did kick off and they dragged me in front of the head (or in your case, the principle), I could pull out this diary and say something along the lines of 'I was provoked, there's the proof – I told teachers about it, it's still going on, what are you going to do about it?' Hey presto, job's a good'un. Anyway, aside from that, I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far and that, in this chapter, you'll get enough of a laugh to forget about school completely; it is Easter after all!

XXX

All too soon she felt wretched consciousness start slithering up and through her resting body again; she knew her eyelids weighed as much as portcullis doors and equally she knew that she didn't really want to open them anyway, but for some reason they peeled apart all the same, the blurry picture in front of her eyes eventually focussing to allow her groggy mind a chance to give speak to the creature that had stirred her from the depths of her slumber,

"Whugh?" Numbed lips and a tongue that felt as flaccid as a punctured balloon not being conducive to a civilised conversation, Mighty tried to bully her consciousness back to work with a couple of mental right-handers and a couple more systems sparked back into life, "Big?"

"Only from the angle you're at"; _no, can't be_; the light laughter just about picked up by her ears was enough to let her know that she'd been wrong on that one – the room was dimly lit and she was still trying to wake up properly, so perhaps it was excusable that she'd mistaken the son for the mother. As the Chaotix stretched up and dragged in a massive yawn, belatedly swinging a hand down to cover her mouth, her hostess took a couple of steps backwards, retreating towards the door,

"I'm sorry Mighty, you must still be…"

"No, no", bracing herself for the effort, the armadillo exerted every ounce of power kept locked in her muscular abdominal rack and performed a basic sit up; her vision swam red for a second with the mental force needed to achieve even this goal so soon after waking back up, but eventually her torso reached up the tipping point and she was able to view the tortoiseshell cat from a more agreeable angle, "I'm up, I'm up – what time is it?"

"Early – if you're tired just get your head down for a couple more hours, you look a bit ragged". _I feel worse than I look, trust me on that one_;

"Always the same on public transport; doesn't matter how far I go I always feel ratty the next morning", sliding one leg out of the air-bed, Mighty felt her foot touch the floor and the resultant jolt of chill helped shock the still-dormant areas of her mind back into line, "luckily I think I can smell the cure from here", she took in another decent sniff, the aroma offering a tempting goal at the end of this brief but torturous path so early on in the day, "is the coffee hot?" Tia grinned before reaching down to scoop up the other Mobian's attire from where they'd lain carefully folded over the chair at the desk of the room,

"Fresh out the pot; here", more grateful than her haggard expression could have let on, the armadillo reached up for her clothes, "just take your time, we've got all day and I mean this, if you need a bit more shut-eye…"

"…I won't wake up until about this time tomorrow", Mighty finished for her, managing to conjure a spark of laughter out of her still-exhausted mind and soul, "thanks for the offer and I do mean that Tia", the intensity of her gaze must have been enough to convince the cat and she bobbed her head in appreciation, "but I know me too well; I can't stop it, I'll just put up with it". Tia looked like she might have argued for a moment but, thankfully from Mighty's point of view, she relented at the last, settling for a last comment spoken with a gentle laugh,

"Armadillo toughness as well as logic hey?" Mighty rolled eyes that felt as stiff and heavy as snooker balls,

"Something like that"; fortunately after nodding once more Tia merely withdrew from the room, allowing her guest time to make her preparations in private; _just as well – if she'd have offered me a lie-in one more time I might well have taken it._

With a muffled groan Mighty rubbed her face with her palms; she'd been stupid enough to stay up reading into the small hours so she was going to have to face up to the consequences – the fact that the excess reading had been the lesser of two evils compared to staying up worrying all night scant consolation for the weariness now dragging at her heels. She wanted so much to flop backwards into the air-bed and feel the plastic give under her shell but knew for a fact that if she did she'd be away with the fairies and nothing short of Charmy's most ear-piercing whistle down her ear hole would get her moving again; with a gargantuan mental shove matching her push up off the bed itself, she finally stood up and fumbled for the buttons of her pyjama top with single-minded intent – Big had been looking forwards to his sisters' collective birthday for the better part of two months; there was no way she was going to delay such celebrations for any longer than necessary just because she'd had issues sleeping in the night. _Least of all if_; the plates of her shell clicked together, a typical armadillo response to sudden cold or fearful circumstance as she recognised her phantom terror even at the same time as logically dismissing it as nonsensical; _if me being late could, possibly, jeopardise them all saying yes to what I want to happen around Christmas time_.

XXX

"T wasn't telling porkies earlier then"; _huh?_; blearily trying to collect her bearing, Mighty finally managed to home in on the voice hailing her, Bill's visage swimming into her vision with a look of concern marring his features, "you do look a little rough, no offence".

"None taken; the truth might not sound pretty but it's still the truth", Mighty admitted with a world-weary fatalism, slumping down in her seat as she tried to conserve her energy for when the twins appeared from their room, "anyone else up and about?"

"Not as yet; that is to say they're all up, just none of them have surfaced yet", he raised his mug in a cheeky yet sincere gesture of appreciation, "I wish they had your sense of promptness Mighty, really I do". From her quick scrutiny his look of affront at her sceptical expression passed muster and she eventually gave a reciprocal smile, the cup Tia placed in front of her quickly helping to perk up her mood as the aroma of freshly poured tea splashed up into her nose. She quickly glugged down a generous mouthful, the searing heat on her tongue making her face screw up almost as much as the flavour; for all the many and varied positives Mighty would be more than happy to actively point out about her, Tia just never remembered that she had two sugars in her tea or coffee. _Must just be because no-one else in her family takes it – still_; quickly beating down the distaste and taking another, more measured sip this time, the armadillo quietly patted the sides of her shell under the table; _never hurts to count calories once in a while. That reminds me, wonder how Julie's doing in her diet plan…_

The memory of the ex-Dark Legionnaire stayed in her mind for a moment, in fact from that original thought more memories were highlighted to do with one of the newest friends she'd made on Angel Island; though she, and the rest of the Chaotix come to that, had been slightly hesitant about actually meeting one of 'the enemy', even a supposedly reformed one, up close and personal despite Shadow's and the true guardians' good words on her behalf, that afternoon had been a real revelation for all of them. She and the other three Mobians of the Chaotix opposed the Dark Legion as an extension of their pseudo-guardian duties, to say nothing of their personal feelings towards the technocratic factions' twisted idea of basically turning everyone into an immortal tin can in order to prevent them dying, Julie-Su had dispersed their notions of the individual warriors of the Legion pretty much single-handedly; she'd been, for want of a better word, normal enough for them all to get along with. _What was it Charmy was afraid she'd be – answering-machine with a superiority complex, something like that_; Mighty could and frequently did laugh at such thoughts now but back then, well they'd been a real worry for all the team; _just as well she was calm enough to ride it out, even with Espio sticking his oar in. Besides that_; once more she saw Rouge's hand tap out a submission after Julie made her sparring match with the guardian perform a complete about-face just after launching the bat skywards in a high-fly effort Mighty would have been proud to call her own; _anyone who can give me a run for my money in a game of throw-Rouge is definitely worth a look-in. So it was a good day all round really – we all got to know Julie, I swapped numbers with her in fact, or was that the next time I met her, we all had a couple of decent sparring matches and Charmy got his first completely clean win, though I doubt he'll try that move on a hedgehog ever again…ouch!_

XXX

Mighty was helping Bill butter the toast in readiness for the birthday breakfast when the two birthday girls actually arrived; in fact it was only Tia's cry of,

"Oh no, the gruesome twosome have touched down", that made her realise anyone else bar herself and the two parents were actually moving in the building. A squeak of chairs being dragged into position followed as the three cats in the dining room exchanged words the armadillo couldn't hear before there was the sudden bang of cutlery on the table and a bossy shout,

"Come on, hurry up", there was a second rap as Mighty turned her gaze towards her fellow kitchen-slave and enough jaded cynicism passed between them to scour the bottom of a brass dingy clear of limpets, "birthday girl wanting service here".

"Birthday girl about to get her own tail ripped off and fed to her"; _my sentiments to a tee_; Mighty held that thought for just a split-second before it was washed away by the reality that, yeah, this was the twins' special day, they should be allowed to throw their weight around a little. Just a little, though…

"Okay just coming", dark thoughts banished away by the same realisation that had come to her, Bill hefted the tray of toast he and Mighty had managed to prepare so far and headed towards the kitchen, his voice preceding his arrival, "they've been buttered, put whatever you want on them but save enough for us and your brother". Mighty dipped her hands into the sink, washing of a couple of traces of butter from her hands before wiping them dry on the nearby tea towel; it was as she was slipping her gloves back on that one of the twins asked the question that made her prick her ears,

"Us? You've got…" Moving quickly, Mighty zipped to the kitchen door before the cat girl could finish speaking and nodded as she leaned against the doorframe,

"…A litter helper; yes he has", Chloe and her sister both froze in their seats, one with a slice of toast liberally slathered in marmalade halfway to her mouth, staring at the armadillo in mute amazement; next second they were by her side, each grabbing onto an arm and trying to almost bodily drag her to the table, gabbling all the time,

"Sit down; goodness we didn't know you were up…"

"I'd never have been so bossy; I thought it was just dad…"

"…you're the guest, you shouldn't be working…

"…sorry dad, I shouldn't have been joking around like that anyway really…"

"…especially not on our birthday; it's a treat for everyone".

"…but you definitely shouldn't be slaving away like that". _Okay I think I got all that_; just about managing to keep in touch with the blizzard of noise assailing her eardrums, Mighty allowed herself to be led to the dining room table and plonked herself down, inwardly chuckling at the sight of the two kittens fussing over her like a pair of identical mother hens – the image made her snigger silently for a second; _well I suppose I've got a shell after all…huh, who's…?_

Looking over her shoulder at the same time everyone else looked around, Mighty felt a smile assail her emotions as it seemed that even in the case of his own family Big would never be comfortable as the centre of attention; virtually filling the doorway in all dimensions, the last member of the family cleared his throat self-consciously before sidling inside the kitchen, his ears held slightly flat and back in the typical feline posture of regret or apology. Pulling out a seat quietly, he cleared his throat again before speaking, his tone slightly contrite, choking off his words a little,

"Umm, sorry I'm late down, I ah", his upheld hand, itself the size of the dinner plate holding all the toast Mighty and his father had prepared so far quite comfortably, "I just needed to get everything ready before I came down".

"You got us a present", a split-second after making that statement, Sophie actually engaged her brain and realised how cruelly disbelieving that had sounded, "I mean, uh, you actually got a present here, all the way from Station Square?"

"Of course I did", Big replied, somewhat affronted by his sister's apparent lack of belief in him, "carried it here in my rucksack didn't I?" _Did you?_; caught out by his sudden declaration Mighty wracked her memory trying to recall any mention of this mysterious gift and eventually turned up a blank; _first I knew about it – you kept that well hidden_. Blinking at the last minute before her boyfriend looked over at her, the armadillo hoped her expression was politely neutral, even slightly optimistic, at such good news; she'd hate to have thought he'd seen her somewhat disconcerted expression about his present-hiding abilities because, quite simply, he'd never forget about it. She kept her vision trained on him until he was sat down next to her, glancing away only as he embraced and kissed his two younger siblings, congratulating them on reaching their milestone in life; it was only when she felt his gloved hand on her shoulder that she allowed herself to feel reasonably confident that she'd slipped that one in under the radar,

"Hi Might", she covered the top of his paw with her own, as much as she was able to, before shying away a little as he peered at her face a little closer, a hint of concern infiltrating his tone as he continued, "are you feeling okay? You look…"

"…Rough as old boots, I know", lifting, she gently returned Big's hand to the side of its owner, adding in a friendly nudge to the ribs while she was at it to ensure in no uncertain terms that it was only tiredness she was feeling, "just had a rough night – public transport and all that, I never sleep well". Big didn't answer for a moment, merely taking a little time out to make sure her statement corroborated with what he could remember and, after reliving the memories of their previous couple of times at his home, nodded,

"True enough – bit of bad planning on our part there; we should have been here yesterday really"; _yeah, now you mention it that does make sense – oh well, we'll, or you will at least, remember for next time_; "but anyway, before the food gets cold, Chloe, quickly explain to the uninitiated how a birthday works in this house". Mighty had just enough time to realise that Big was actually talking about her before Chloe standing up caught her attention, one of the two birthday girls puffing herself out importantly before delivering her oration,

"Well, the plan of the day is we all eat up this delicious breakfast, which we're both very grateful you helped make Mighty", feeling rather than seeing Big's eyebrow raise in her direction, the armadillo gave a small, smug shrug in answer to his curiosity, "then we get down to the serious business of opening presents, hopefully shouldn't take that long because after that the good stuff starts".

A quiver of barely-contained excitement rippled through the spokesMobian and she broke off for a moment, shaking with delight in concert with her still-seated twin before she managed to clamp a lid on her emotions and speak again, the words flowing out in a torrent now, coherency starting to suffer in the heedless rush to release the maximum amount of information in the shortest possible time,

"Dad gave a choice we couldn't make so we decided to go halves; after presents we're hitting the town for half a day of ice-skating and then half a day at the bowling alley, or half a day bowling then half a day ice-skating, whichever's best preferred – either way it'll be a blast".

"I'll bet"; hopelessly swept away by the undercurrent of excitement, Mighty swiped a couple of the closest pieces of toast as her sluggish lethargy quickly evaporated, "dig in everyone, we ain't got time to hang about".

"I second that notion", Tia quickly helped herself after looking across the table and sending an air-kiss in her husband's direction, "thanks love, this looks gorgeous". Self-consciously fiddling with his whiskers at the gesture, Bill merely grunted at the praise and quickly set about demolishing the toast in front of him, abashed, as most men are, by the display of public affection.

"Dig in everyone; there's seven of us so this shouldn't take too long – then onto the so-called 'good stuff'"; _seven?_; not quite sure he was counting right, Mighty simultaneously crunched down her latest mouthful of toast at the same time as do a quick head-up on the table at large; _no, there's only…oh yeah_; she could have slapped her forehead as her mnemonic slip-up became apparent. She'd forgotten everyone in his family always counted Big as two when arranging a meal of any kind – a somewhat untrue kind of calculation as far as Mighty was concerned, though she was too polite to raise it as a point of any kind; as far as she had experience with him Big didn't actually eat all that much. Okay, his portions might have been a little larger than average but, on the other hand, he was a lot larger than average so she guessed the two must have balanced out overall; still, he never complained and thus she let it lie, merely concentrating on making sure her own portion of the divine breakfast spread before her wasn't diminished by a roving cat's paw and trying to snag the marmalade pot whenever it happened to be placed near her sitting space.

XXX

"Okay then girlies", both twins glanced up from their booty as Tia reached behind her back, already looking as pleased as punch at their father's surprise present of a pair of music CDs to share or split between themselves; as Big had explained to her during the journey here, Bill shouldn't have, or perhaps didn't have to was a more accurate statement, brought a present at all as he was mostly funding the rest of the day's activities. Mighty observed the scene before her eagerly, watching as Tia presented her daughters with what looked to be a sealed birthday card each and strangely disconcerted that she didn't have anything to give here. She had offered to contribute something but every time she'd raised it as a point of conversation Big had been politely but insistently adamant that she brought nothing but herself to the party. _Strange old system they work to here_; though Mighty knew the reason behind such a request and thought highly enough of her partner to grant it, it was such a different rationale of reasoning compared to her own family's history with celebrations that she couldn't quite accept it. As the twins carefully and reverently slit open the tops of their envelopes in tandem, Mighty leaned back a little further on the settee and reminisced back into her own birthdays; if she half-closed her eyes, she could almost be sixteen again herself…

XXX

_The presents were heaped in a pile higgledy-piggledy – just the way she liked it; under the gaze of her parents Mighty felt her feet leave the floor as she piled into the mountain, bits of shredded paper cascading to the floor like a blizzard of confetti as the armadillo ran riot through the heaped parcels, weeks of excitement being vented in this frenzied few moments. The sound of wrapping paper parting under her fingertips was the music of the gods, the feel of bunches of it crumbling in her hands sending thrills of excitement and euphoria equally through her soul as more and more seams of beauty were revealed from the mound of garish paper packages. On and on she rampaged like an ancient Viking given form, a warrior of Valhalla set loose one last time to pillage this new bounty, only one single present resisting her attention for the moment, the emperor of gifts sacrificing its minions heedlessly in order to buy itself a couple more moments of life, scant few seconds of priceless freedom in the face of the whirling, present-predator dervish before it. But all its intentions and carefully laid plans were in vain; breathing raggedly but still standing, Mighty reared up and paced towards this last survivor, reaching forwards and seizing its tag, knowing what she would read there even before the words in stark black pen traced over her vision and she smiled, turning to acknowledge the sacrifices made on her behalf by those behind her,_

_"Thank you dad, and mum of course; this has been the best and I mean the best, birthday ever"; with that and their accepting, pleased nods, she faced her final quarry once more, her fingers reached out, brushed the ribbon on top, she felt the paper beneath her hand and pressed down, the first, faint crinkling noises reaching her ears as it began to give way…_

XXX

"Oh _wow!_" The sudden exclamation catapulted her back into the realms of reality; the many paintings and varied sketches that probably still hung in her parent's front room swirling away and the gentle beige wallpaper of her partner's family home replaced it at the same time her phantom voice from the past was replaced by a younger, slightly more high-pitched voice in the here and now. Mighty blinked and hastily sat up, she'd been on the verge of falling asleep and now urgently scrambled back away from the potential edge for fear of falling into slumber again; it simply wouldn't do to start snoring when the presents were being handed around of all times.

"You are", one of the twins, she'd lost track of who was who in the general melee, paused for just long enough to give her mother a peck on the cheek before carrying on, "the greatest mother that has ever lived". Tia just about managed to bite back a chuckle before replying with a slightly reproachful note in her voice,

"Of course; did you ever doubt it?"

"Well…", was all the other one of the duo was able to say before her grin broke through the veneer of serious thought shrouding it, "...nah, never worried about it for a second".

"Good"; Tia retook her seat as Mighty felt movement from her side; glancing over she glimpsed Big very quietly levering himself up from the arm of the settee as quietly as possibly, the birthday girls immediately began exchanging ideas about what to swap this new bounty for making a fine smokescreen for his intentions,

"Fancy going for a fur-dye?"

"No, never really caught my fancy that one; look at the all the blonde bimbos you get around school".

"Ah good point; mum", Sophie, white-tipped tail flicking back and forth behind her in a gesture of restless apprehension, looked over as Tia flicked her ears at the mention of her name, "what can we use these for?" Seeing the voucher being waved in her direction the larger cat gave a mostly-nonchalant shrug, the fact that she darted a glance at her husband for the very briefest instant the only chink in her armour of unconcern that Mighty was able to pick up on,

"Whatever you want"; just in case her daughters hadn't got the message, or were too shocked and stunned by such an announcement to take it all in at once Tia spelt it out for them, "you're sixteen now, you don't need me watching over your shoulders when you go into a jewellery store. You want something done; piercings, tattoos, that sort of rubbish, you go right on ahead. That'll be enough to make some headway on any sort of prices"; _nicely put_; seeing the tiny numerals glittering in the corner of one of the gift vouchers Mighty was able to nod at Tia's eloquence, "but if you need anything else that's up to you to pay".

"All right, cool", clutching her voucher like a sailor would a life-raft, both twins grabbed even tighter hold of their tickets and moved onto the much more entertaining topic of deciding what to buy with it, "so, twenty in Accessorize; what's your plan?"

"I dunno really; umm, could try a piercing?"

"Maybe, but definitely not an ear-piercing"; _I'd have thought that would've been first choice for you_; curiosity aroused by this parting of their logic from her own, Mighty took a little more interest in the scenario before her as Chloe shuddered, "remember what happened to Sarah, or was it Sally; didn't tape it up for sports and…" The ripple spread around the room, all present flinching in shared pain as the cat girl suddenly shifted her hands as though ripping a piece of paper; _ouch…just as well I never even thought about…especially with my job…yeow_; even with the scant information she'd just heard Mighty could picture the scenario with a crystal clarity and suddenly couldn't stop herself wincing at the mental image.

"Good point; not happening if I can help it, least of all with ears like ours. So, not in the ear…"

"…Or the lip", everyone looked over as Bill's voice came rumbling from the chair he'd been occupying quiescently the whole time, "I know that you're old enough to make your minds up and all that jazz but neither of my daughters is going to be seen anywhere near me looking like she'd just tried to open a beer can with her teeth and got it wrong, and that goes for tongue-studs as well. Enough of the morons I work with have got them; I'm not putting up with them at home as well". Bill shook his head, the distaste on his features as plain as day and unwittingly letting his son slide back into the front room virtually unnoticed, one hand hidden behind his back as Sophie nodded in approval of her father's disapproval,

"Don't worry about us dad, I've never liked the look of them either, have you Chlo?"

"Nah, they certainly don't do anything for me; now that I think about it, actually", knitting her eyebrows, Chloe pursed her lips as her chin sank into her hand, glancing up only to seek confirmation of something from her sister, "don't really know anyone I get on with well who's got many piercings; what about you Sophs?"

"Not really, unless you count Jamie but he's usually got his out most of the time. Well I think that's settled, not going down that road and I've never fancied a tattoo", a shake of her twin's head let the speaking cat girl know she had the support of her other half in that assumption, "so that leaves us with the good old fashioned fall back; we'll figure out what we want when we get there. Do you know anything much about body art Mighty?"

"Umm, not personally", caught out a little by the rapid change of focus from the twins to herself, the armadillo floundered for a second before she was able to recognise that both her last statement was true and she could easily make another one now, "but one of my friends back in Station Square, I know she's got at least one ear done, not sure if she thought about getting a pair sorted out".

"I don't think she ever was", Mighty just stopped short of breathing a sigh of relief as Big chipped in with his two cents worth on her side, "she doesn't even wear her earpiece much anyway, just on the odd occasion when she gets out that little rose Sonic brought her last Christmas".

"That was Sonic? I didn't know he'd brought her that – thought she got it herself?" The fisherMobian's ponderous-looking head rocked from side to side on his thickly-muscled neck, a gruff chuckle reverberating up through his chest as he saw evidently saw the whole scene unfold before him,

"Nah, he passed it to her at Vanillas, right at the end of the night, and under the mistletoe as well; bit of an old romantic is our Sonic underneath all that 'coolness'"; _thanks a million Big guy_; Mighty's face muscles were in virtual spasm as she tried to see that little scene as clearly as her boyfriend could – somehow though, rather than seeing one of her oldest childhood friends at eye-level with his then-pseudo-girlfriend, she kept imagining the blue hedgehog on bended knee; _hmm, not quite right that thought – one for the future maybe_. Shaking with silent laughter and internally swearing a blinding oath to herself to make sure she dropped in on the Smurf with that crumb of gossip as soon as she got back into Station Square, Mighty nevertheless managed to maintain enough composure to listen in on the rest of Big's words, the rest of the cats' family lending an ear also as they noticed him fiddling with the item he held behind his back still,

"Well, this is an important day for everyone here really; you two obviously, and eventually, managed to make it to something like maturity", both parents present gave an obvious, disdainful noise that both girls glared at before returning their rapt attention back to their older brother, "we're all pulling together as a family for today and Mighty, sorry but you just had to get dragged along for the ride", wafting a hand dismissively, the armadillo couldn't quite keep a significant smile from stealing over the corner of her mouth as she attempted to discount the backhanded complement as groundless, "but, apart from that, I managed to get a chance to make my own milestone".

Glances around the room were exchanged quite liberally at this point as Big's concealed arm began to move, slowly returning back to the full view of the room and dragging along its new cargo with it, the larger feline talking all the time both to earn himself a little more breathing room but also, more importantly, to set the pair in front of him up for as long as he could possibly manage,

"Mr Trenton always said that the first piece you frame should be an original; he's still got the first picture he did, it's on the top shelf of his store, a bit faded but you can still see it if you look hard enough; well, I've been working on my first piece for a while now and now, well it's finished, and it's yours".

"You, you're first picture?" Sophie sounded like she was trying to speak around a cricket ball lodged in her throat as she stared wide-eyed at the small wooden board in her brother's huge hand, the picture actually concealed fro the moment against his chest fur, "you framed it for us, just for our birthday? Big, you…"

"Hold up, not quite right there"; _don't want this to go too far_; deciding that if he left it any later to strike the proverbial iron before him would be melted to slag, the budding picture-framer decided to show his hand after setting the record straight, "yes this is my first picture, but it's not for you on your birthday, it's _of_ you on your birthday", of all present it was actually Mighty who was most perturbed by the way Big's smile suddenly deepened, a couple of traces of dark humour seeping up into the edges as he gave a slight snicker and finished before either of the twins could question his subtle shift in mood,

"Your first birthday that is"; with that, he twisted the picture around for them all to see.

A tomboy she might have been but there was no way any woman could have possibly passed up a sight as cute as the one in front of her now without giving a comment; seeing the hand-drawn sketch and one of the two tiny occupants of the frame apparently waving to her, Mighty was simply unable to avoid cocking her head in a coy pose and giving a soppy, smiled greeting,

"Awwwhawwhawww".

XXX

Both kittens, and it was immediately obvious that both the subjects in this picture really were kittens, had been swaddled together in the same blanket, facing towards the camera with all the innocence an age as tender as theirs could muster. One of the two seemed to be almost asleep, her mostly-shut eyes gazing slightly off to the left of centre as her face tilted in the give of the blanket whilst the other kitten, the one who's eyes were fully opened and staring adorably out from the frame, seemed almost to be reaching forwards with one tiny paw, the almost-invisible claws in her fingers stretching forwards in an attempt to playfully bat the artist in front of her even if she could have had no comprehension as to what was actually taking place before her. Alongside her somewhat sleepier sibling, the kitten was in the middle of a plaintive meow that seemed to echo out from the parchment in a testament to the artist's skill; as always when seeing his work on display, Mighty was left in awe as, now the initial shock of seeing a piece of art this fine was receding, more and more minute but important details rose up almost glaringly to become apparent to her. The way the kittens' whiskers overlapped without tangling or blurring, for instance, or the manner in which the blanket covering both infant cats was there in full but in no way obscured the two sets of miniscule feet and two appealingly sinuous tails poking out of the bottom of it. Considering the whole thing had been drawn in either pencil of charcoal, at this range the armadillo couldn't tell which, it was a quite beautiful thing to behold, the plain mahogany border around the parchment only serving to enhance the crisp clarity of the paper it contained. Unfortunately, however, the beauty of the artwork appeared to be somewhat lost on those to whom it had been destined for,

"You git!" Fur fluffed up on end, Chloe managed to recover her scattered wits and hurled herself towards her brother, "gimme that right now! I can not believe you drew, you framed for God's sake something like that!" Mighty flumped over sideways on the settee hugging her stomach, hoping against hope that she'd be able to avoid laughing at the bedlam of the scene in front of her as Sophie joined her sister in the fray, shaking off the shock and desperate to make sure viewing time for Big's newest creation was as short as she could possibly make it. Sadly for the pair of them Big simply lived up to his namesake to deny them their prize; stretching up until his knuckles grazed the ceiling, he held the picture out of their range as he fended them off with his free other hand,

"Sorry but I just couldn't…"

"Yes you could you just bloody didn't", Sophie cut him off, on the verge of spitting tacks as she glared up at the picture above her with dark, dangerous thoughts evidently flashing across her face, "right, that's it – sod the ban; we're not at school now, time to get your claws dirty sis". Chloe gave a vicious nod in answer and clapped her hands together, ready to rip her gloves off at a second's notice before their mother's voice cut across their murderous desires,

"Oi, no, both of you can just calm down, and if you get any blood on this carpet you'll be the ones cleaning it up", Tia stood up and all three of her children backed down, even Big seeming to be reduced in stature as she sauntered across to them before reaching up and extending a hand; not a second later the picture was in it and she glanced down, getting a good look for the first time. Sensing the opportunity, Mighty carefully picked herself up off the settee and quietly tiptoed towards where the purple tortoiseshell was viewing the masterwork, trying to sneak a peek over her shoulder as Tia carefully traced over the glass with a finger, drinking in every detail before slowly pirouetting on the spot and heading towards where her husband still sat; _go for it – I'll see it later_. Thwarted but not completely put out by being denied a second view, the armadillo stayed where she was and respected the rights of a family as Bill gently took the piece from his other half and surveyed the picture as seriously and intently as he did the buildings he had to inspect structurally every day; after a long, long minute, he stood up, the slight smile on his face gradually widening and deepening until it was a voluminous grin and he gave a shout of laughter as he looked up,

"Aha, perfect; you've excelled yourself my lad"; _aww, he's as cute as they are in his own way_; Mighty had to hide a sudden flush of affection as it raced across her face – she knew 'cute' would be one of the last words people on the street would use to describe Big but then again that was why she was his girlfriend and they weren't; they'd never know him as well as she did. The sight of a Mobian that could have given even her a run for her money in a straight-up fight reduced to looking down and twiddling his huge thumbs by such moderate praise of his creation was at the same time hilarious and deeply touching to her as she, she alone outside his close-knit family, knew precisely why he shied away from praise as he did. Fortunately, seeing the effects his words had had on his son, Bill reined in his ideas for further acclamations of his son's abilities and focussed instead on his next target, his eyes crackling with mischief as he set his proverbial sights on his daughters even if his eyes never left the picture and he seemed to be talking to Tia alone,

"Well this is a beauty and no mistake; we'll have to clear a space on the wall…" _No way – if any of my pals get a sight of that…_

"Yeah, the wall in the attic" Sophie furiously demanded, the comment making Mighty's shoulders shake, though Bill didn't seem to see her nor hear his daughter as he carried on with Tia nodding appreciatively, mentally reminding herself of all the times her twins had wound her up and gleefully repaying the favour to them,

"…and we'll need it copied, lots of copies", Mighty had to turn her back; the way both birthday girls looked about ready to explode in indignant rage more than enough to crack right through her funny bone, "the whole family'll want a shot; there's Aunt Margaret and Uncle Ted of course, and their cousins, oh Zak will get such a kick out of this…"

"So will you if you don't _shut up!_" Chloe's virtual scream of frustration was the only thing able to derail her mother's ticking off of the family names; not done, the usually more docile one of the pair span on the spot and spat her next words at her brother, "and the only one that's going to get a shot out of this is you if you so much as _whisper_ that this drawing ever even existed!"

"As if I would", Big tried and failed to say with a straight face; his affronted younger sibling growled in her throat but refrained from lashing out as one of his dinner-plate paws descended onto the top of her head and started to slowly scratch between her ears, the glower never left her eyes even if her back arched subconsciously in response to the fuss. Seeing this and just recovered the ability to speak without giggling, Mighty caught her partner's attention before nodding at the picture still held in Bill's hand,

"So, where'd that one come from, and don't say your memory" she tacked on at the last minute; _been caught out by that one too often_. Big put on a puppy-dog pout before giving a chuckle, hearing his sister's disgruntled rumbling start to soften as he carried on relieving her stress through his fingers,

"Old baby photo; it's still in the album somewhere I'm sure".

"All right", seemingly ecstatic with this news the armadillo quickly turned to Bill and Tia, her delight obvious on her face, "you've got this in colour?"

"Don't you start", Sophie quickly rebuffed her birthday guest just before anyone else could pip her to the post, continuing a second later after heaving a long-suffering sigh, "but yes, and I'm sure mum's going to just love dragging out the kitten-flicks later on tonight sometime?"

"Oh you bet I am", Tia assured her daughter with a smug grin; Big started to laugh before he realised his mother's gaze suddenly fixed on him and he quickly swallowed his mirth; _uh oh, I know that look_; "and you're not getting out of this one buster; yours are on display too". Big flattened his ears, a typical feline reaction to unpleasant news as Sophie giggled, mollified enough by this news to gesture for her father to look at the picture again.

"Hmm", post observation, the marmalade tortoiseshell stroked her chin with her hand importantly and gave a self-satisfied nod, "yes, well it's still never going to see the light of day, but you definitely caught my better side there", twisting her head to the side to catch a look at her reflection from the glass covering the parchment, "even at that age it's obvious I had the looks".

"Shame you had to grow up and lose them"; the riposte made Sophie spin around at her twin, Chloe patting down the fur on her head that had been disturbed by Big's affectionate, if possibly less than completely sincere, apology, "anyone could tell you I'm the cute one now".

"Yeah, if you were pretending to be me that is; you're just jealous…"

"Of what exactly?"

"Girls, that'll do…" Try as she might, however, Tia knew that she'd lost this one and nothing short of a full-on slanging match was going to suffice this time; _well, always the old fall back, especially for today_; "…we need to get ready to move out now, especially if the car's off-limits; every minute wasted arguing means thirsty seconds off bowling-stroke-ice-skating – it's your treat you're wasting, as well as your breath".

XXX

About fifteen minutes later, when they were all scrubbed up and heading down to the bus stop to catch the number eleven to just outside town, Mighty managed to fall back in line and, leaving Bill to control his family as much as he was able to, edge in a word with Tia,

"Sorry to bother you T", as the matriarchal cat glanced towards her the armadillo didn't give her the opportunity to say that the apology was unnecessary and ploughed on, "what was it you said to get this shower organised, something about it's your day you're losing?"

"Something like that, but always end with 'as well as your breath', very important that is. Why did you want to know?"

"I just thought it'd be useful to have up my sleeve during the team meetings"; _translation_; keeping up the appearance of a business setting Mighty kept the next thought private; _the morning cup of coffee_; "they're an alright bunch most of the time but when things break down, boy they break down with a bang".

"How well I can sympathise", the cat beside her chuckled, nodding at the quartet in front of them, Bill just about managing to keep a leash on the potential for sibling rivalry as Chloe and Sophie tried to convince their brother that their choice of entertainment should be the one done first, "and you can't even ground your workmates when they misbehave".

"Ground no, pound into the ground maybe".

"Don't tempt me; anyway", looking around in a casual manner, there was an edge in the tortoiseshell cat's eyes that Mighty was able to easily pick up on, "what was the other thing you wanted to talk about?"

"How'd you…in fact don't answer that, my mum was just the same, still is now that I think about it", giving an embarrassed but still understanding shrug Mighty smiled wryly as Tia tapped her fingertips together in a satisfied manner, raising a tinny clinking noise as the edges of her claws were knocked together,

"Yep, always remember that mother knows best; believe me one of the most gratifying experiences of your life will be when you realise you can tell what the kids around you are thinking, your own especially"; _okay, I'll take your word for that_; a little uncomfortable on this topic, Mighty attempted to subtly alter the course of the conversation without obviously detracting from the point the cat had made,

"No doubt about that; tell you what, when that life-altering moment hits me I'll give you a call"; _okay that'll do_; to her own ears it appeared to be a horribly rushed and glaringly abrupt effort to push the conversation back on track but thankfully Tia didn't seem to notice; _or if she did_; a sudden rush of guilt closed a cold fist around the armadillo's chest, forcing her to pause for a moment to loosen its grip and allow her to breathe again; _she's too polite to tell me so – come on, pull yourself together, the only way's forward now_; "but you're right – I just, er, well to be honest I felt like a bit of a wet blanket back…"

"Ah, say no more", Mighty obediently fell silent as her boyfriend's mother raised a hand, palm towards her in an accepting manner, "I know Big told you you shouldn't bring a present didn't he? You're wondering why?"

"In a nutshell yeah", Mighty answered candidly after a couple of seconds umming and ahhing, reassured by the manner in which the elder Mobian was allaying her half-formed suspicions; it sounded to her like this wasn't the first time Tia had said the words she spoke next,

"Well, much like the spring coming when the lawn gets cut for the first time, it's one of those little ideas that grew up out next to nothing really; the fact is Mighty", seeing the flicker of guilt that lit up the elder cat's face for a moment, making even the normally grinning Tia seem more haunted than cheerful, the Chaotix tuned in and paid rapt attention to her next words, "when Bill and I were married and moved out of our parents' homes for the first time, well it really wasn't a good time to buy a house; he'd just been promoted at work and was on a slightly better wage than he was when we first met but even so we were living on scraps and charity. And of course Big…"; _oh yes, of course Big_; gazing across at where the largest cat of the pride had reluctantly deigned to give one of his sisters a piggy-back, Mighty thought she saw the corner of a smile on his cheek and grinned in kind; _couldn't forget him even if we tried…sorry, you were saying?_ Fortunately Tia seemed to have been caught up examining her elder child with motherly affection and the Chaotix realised with relief she hadn't missed anything important,

"…well he was a bit of an unexpected surprise, in fact he was a whole lot of an unexpected surprise", hearing the cat chuckle, the armadillo was more interested in the way one of her hands had cupped her relatively slim belly as though ghosting her touch over a phantom pregnancy bump, "for the first couple of years he was born we really couldn't afford anything except the absolute essentials; I was having to rely on mum and dad and Bill, well he lived with his mum at the time and she never had much but she chipped in what she could. So he never really had a proper birthday, not in the presents-and-jelly sort of sense at least; his grandparents were already helping to put a roof over his head and clothes on his back, Bill and I decided we couldn't ask for anything else of them. What we used to do was have like a big fun-day sort of thing; it'd be a really simple thing that cost nothing, like one year, with the twins this was, we had a tie-dye day, I think they were turning eight or maybe seven; it was really cheap and cheerful because we couldn't afford anything else – we did invite his friends over and managed to lay on a bit of a spread, just nothing too fancy because, well, we didn't have the funds for it. Luckily things started looking up just before the gruesome twosome arrived; Bill was headhunted as a sales manager by the garage he works for now and we could finally make it on our own. But…"

"Say no more; I can tell what you're going to say – hey you're right, that was a good feeling", the armadillo snickered for a second as Tia glanced at her sideways, though as she began her version of events the cats look grew warmer, "it worked for Big, look at how he's turned out"; _you had to do that just then didn't you?_; her triumphant grin well and truly wiped away by the sight of the aforementioned Mobian mock-garrotting both his sisters by the collars of their shirts with a wicked snarl on his face, Mighty had to try and make the best of it whilst Tia attempted to look sympathetic at the same time as shake with laughter, "well, sort of; anyway regardless, you're still having your fun days these day aren't you? That's what this is right?" Tia nodded and beamed like a new sunrise,

"Yep, still as cheerful, if not quite as cheap as they used to be; funny thing is though we always say the girls can invite friends over like Big could but they never really do – shame really, I'd like to meet a couple and know them a bit more than I do now", Mighty gave a what-can-you-do kind of shrug as Tia continued wryly, "mind you, the grandparents probably more than make up for any errant schoolmates, as does the rest of the pride when we all make the trek down there and see them all. They're not supposed to buy presents but old Dotty, Bill's mum God bless her; regular as clockwork; tomorrow's post, you mark my words – card for each of them with something inside it they'll love". Mighty laughed and swatted the mothers' shoulder lightly, the picture perfect in her head as she projected her vision forwards to tomorrow morning,

"Ah, where's the fun in being old if you can't break the rules you used to make eh?"

"Something like that", broken down by the armadillo's infectious smile, Tia relented in her stern act and sighed, "not like they're not spoilt enough when we go and see everyone; anyone'd think they were royalty they way they get treated. Oh, hang on, this could be trouble; looks like a friendly discussion's about to boil over".

"Mother's instinct huh?" Tia spared the armadillo by her side a last glance before ploughing forwards towards the disturbance, pointing as she did so,

"That and the fact Bill looks like he's about to sort it out if I don't; see you in a minute Mighty"; as the elder Mobian moved off Mighty had a moment's pause, stopping where she was and shooting a long-range glance over at where Big was stood off to the side of what looked like the two twins about to square off against each other; the second she clapped eyes on his broad back and rippling fur her face incinerated and she looked down, Tia's words from earlier refusing to leave her ears; _life-changing moment – with the kids of your own especially. Well not right now and that's for sure, at least a few years before I even consider going down that line...maybe, ish?_

XXX

It was as the tip of the pleasure dome began to crest in the horizon that Bill called a halt to the march and drew himself up to his full height, Big discreetly moving to the side in order not to confound his father's attempt to look like he was the biggest and therefore in charge,

"Right, all the discussing, arguing and sarcasm from here to Timbuktu isn't going to solve this and, no offence Mighty but even your little pearler from last night won't cut the ice here". The armadillo merely shrugged, moving over to stand at Big's side,

"Oh well, can't win them all"; there was a low bass rumbling from beside her and a second later she heard a distinctively soothing scraping sound, one of his claws gently grating down the back of her shell, the closest he or anyone else could ever really come to rubbing her back. With an inclination of his head towards her followed by a gruff snort in the general direction of his daughter, one of Bills' hands headed towards his wallet and a second later a single shining coin emerged, resting gently on the backs of his fingers. With a deft flick of his wrists the circle of currency danced along his knuckles, shimmering in and out of his fingers in a neat, dexterous dance before being snatched up in the palm of the elder cat's hand. Quickly shifting the penny around to rest on his thumb, Bill launched it skywards; as it fell into his outstretched paw he slapped his hand onto the back of his free paw and, looking at both his daughters, said simply,

"Call".

That was a fatal mistake, he knew it the moment the word had passed his lips; both twins shared just a single glance before turning towards him, smiles as devious as Lucifer's lips smudged all over their face as together they chorused back,

"Tails". _Oh Lord, why do you hate me so much?_; as everyone else involved in this expedition struggled to hold in their mirth Bill looked up from his grimace and, after taking in a steadying breath, spoke again,

"Okay, let's try that again; Chloe, you call". Unabashed by her earlier conduct, the catgirl repeated her earlier word,

"Tails".

"Right, Soph, you call now, something other than tails this time"; she was tempted to try something smart and just for a second Bill mentally dared her to even think about it, but no, she'd wisely realised the line had been laid down and toed it before the law followed it,

"Alright then, let's go with, I dunno, heads?"

"Good", with that short word of praise Bill lifted his hand, peeking at the result first before exposing the coin to the scrutiny of them all with a short declaration, "tails it is then; skating first". An ecstatic hiss from Chloe drew the attention of the whole party for the second Mighty needed, having located her phone and quickly scrolled through the pictures contained in its memory, to reach the shot she wanted and make an announcement of her own,

"Sorry Bill you got that all wrong";_ come on, cut me some slack here_; the elder cat was beginning to suspect the worst when even the guest of his family seemed to be turning against his judgement but, thankfully, rather than her version of events, her mobile phone was foisted upon him instead, "that isn't tails, this here's Tails".

"Hmm, what? Oh, I see – very good", scanning the image on the screen in front of him he gave a snort of reluctant laughter, remembering who the armadillo's friends were in the nick of time and subsequently putting name to picture, "he has got two then, I thought that was just the news camera angle".

"Who has – lemme see"; grabbing the appliance out of her fathers hand, Sophie glanced at the screen, her eyebrows virtually disappearing into her hairline as she beheld the picture before her, "whoa, this is really him?"

"Yep, in the proverbial flesh as it were", Mighty nodded proudly; digesting this news and with her twin joining her to peer over her shoulder, Sophie's eyes rolled down to the screen once more with a more calculating gleam held within them this time,

"Hmm, now that I look at him properly", she cocked her head, tilting the phone as though expecting the fox to come tumbling out the edge of the screen, "he's kind of cute; I don't suppose…?"

"He's also taken", Big said firmly but not unkindly, reaching down to prise the phone from his younger siblings' clutches, chuckling at Sophie's rueful shrug as he handed the phone back to Mighty, knowing just by the set of her face the Mobian in her mind was identical to the one in his when it came to the subject of Tails' supposed affections, "sorry, sad but true".

"No real problem; not like it would have worked anyway really – he's supposed to be really smart isn't he, it'd all go sailing over my head. Anyway, come on", she jerked her head insinuatingly towards where the doors of the leisure complex were invitingly open for them all, Chloe already on the doorstep and obviously waiting for them to join her, "the sooner we get on the rink, the sooner we get to leave and get on with the real fun of the day".

"Sounds like a plan – come on dear, I'm sure it won't be as bad as last time".

"Tell my tail that", Bill muttered darkly under his breath as he let his wife lead him onwards; as Big stilled his shaking shoulders and dipped his head to whisper that particular story into Mighty's expectant ear, no-one paid attention to the manner in which the heads of the birthday girls drew together for an instant, nor did they hear the frantic whispering session that began immediately afterwards, the prelude to the hatching of a diabolical revenge scheme.

XXX

Aside from the slight pause that had ensued when the assistant at the counter had pointed out that the only shoes large enough to accommodate Big's feet were already out on the ice but due to come in shortly, Mighty reckoned she'd been on the ice for the better part of two hours and only now did she even dare to dream that she was beginning to understand the bare minimum of what skating actually entailed. Wiping her forehead as the few drips of sweat that had been generated there threatened to freeze over due to the iciness of the air steaming up from the rink, Mighty tentatively pushed one foot out in front of the other, an image of Shadow crystallised in her mind as she attempted to copy the smooth, gliding action she'd seen him use whilst running; her blade slid across the ice and, equally tentatively, she began to move her other foot in a similar motion, her breath held until her lungs began to ache – she dare not breathe in case the rush of air affected her balance. _Skating_; thinking hard as she pushed on towards her eventual destination, trying to force herself to move towards where Big was standing at ease towards the side of the rink, Mighty grimaced as she wrung the inevitable truth out of her mind; _requires grace, poise, balance, delicacy and not a little luck – all talents_; she pulled up to an ungainly stop as what looked like a green-red blur whooshed past her nose, almost causing her to topple back onto her tail; _with which I am not naturally well-endowed – at least you've got balance_. She made to glare over at Big's unresponsive back at the same time as push off to get herself moving again; unfortunately the attempt at multi-tasking failed to achieve anything and, with a low groan as she just about managed to arrest her fall, Mighty found herself nose to nose with the floor again. It was in such a position, completely unaware of the myriad plotting that had been going on in the background behind her as she'd been wrapped up in her struggles to even stand up on the ice, that the trap snapped shut around her.

A slight scraping noise reached her ears and she looked up to see four ice-skates heading her way; even without hearing their voices Mighty knew who's feet were filling those boots,

"Hey Mighty"; _oh brilliant timing_; looking up acidly, the armadillo managed to get her knees underneath her as first one, then another of the twins slewed to a halt beside but in front of her, stopping on a pair of sixpences with the merest effort, "want a hand?" With a gruff chuckle, the prone Mobian lifted both her hands and felt both cats take one each; unfortunately, as she looked down to make sure her feet were underneath her properly as she stood up, she missed the devilish glance that sent the air between the two other Mobian's eyes crackling,

"I want some extra feet", finally convincing herself that all was as it should be down there, Mighty slowly erected herself to her full height and tried to draw her hands back, "at least then I might be able to get something like balance out here".

"Ah, it's just a knack, you'll pick it up; tell you what, just keep your blades straight and Sophs and I will give you a bit of a tow around, how's that sound?"

"Sounds a lot better than anything I've managed to come up with yet", the armadillo affirmed with a nod and a second later both cats looked away and began heaving; as she felt the frigid air around her start to ripple through her fur again, Mighty looked across the ice and picked out her eventual destination with ease, telling her erstwhile stewards the location when the idea occurred to her, "oh, bear left a second, would you mind; got something to tell you brother".

"Sure, we'll get there"; _all right, we're heading in the right direction now…I think…_;

"Umm", craning her neck as the large purple spot in the corner of her eye began to fade away, Mighty began to feel uncomfortable shivers running down her spine that were nothing to do with the coolness of the ice underfoot, "might just be me girls but isn't Big over there?"

"Oh he's there all right; like we said, we'll get you there…eventually". Liking what she was hearing less and less each second, especially when the girls pulling her along started giggling at something she'd heard them mutter but not picked up on, Mighty tried to bleed off some of the speed the trio were moving at by leaning back; _uh oh, I can't slow…_;

"You know sis", pre-occupied with trying to escape the hold around her wrists, the armadillo barely heard what was transpiring between the two infernal coachMobians before her until it was too late to alter their eventual plan, "was it me, or did I hear Mighty laughing at us when the BFG over there flipped that picture round at us?"

"You know sis", the other cat answered and only now did Mighty actually tune in, realising that she was travelling at a much higher speed than anything she'd ever managed under her own steam and, with sweat starting to prickle all the way along her back, itching under her armoured plates, that she was completely in the thrall of the two birthday girls and at the mercy of whatever their eventual scheme might be, "you're entirely right and, it might just be me", Sophie twisted to look over her shoulder and even Mighty's stout heart quailed at the mischief in the sparkling hazel eyes confronting her, "but didn't she say that she wanted to see aforementioned BFG?"

"She did, so I guess we can sort out two problems with one blow, so…"

"What are you two…?" With a final desperate shake of her hands Mighty attempted to throw her tormentors off; her despair when she realise how canny the two had actually been by grabbing her wrists in such a manner that she couldn't twist her hands around to reciprocate the hold was matched only by her outright terror when they both suddenly let go and span to either side, out the way of her now-heedless charge with a finally comment, spoken in stereo,

"…sorry it had to be you Mighty". _Had to be me wh…oh no!_; glancing up as she tried to think of a way to slow down that wouldn't involved either crashing into someone or going tail-over-nose on the hard ice, Mighty felt her heart jolt even more violently as the unsuspecting mountain she was careening headlong towards swelled in her vision – pure instinct more than anything allowed her to sound a warning of any kind,

"Big", he turned at her frenzied shriek but slowly, far too slowly, "heads up!"

Under normal circumstances, even going at full tilt with all her muscles behind her Mighty would have struggled to make an impression on her boyfriend when he had his feet planted; in terms of strength he wasn't that far behind her anyway and though she'd never actually had him up on any scales of any kind she'd have laid good money that he was at least twice her body mass. Unfortunately for her, and for him as well as she saw the realisation of what was about to happen dawn on his suddenly bloodless face, these circumstances were about as far from normal circumstances as it was possible for them to get – she was going at full pelt and then some, he was just finishing a clumsy pirouette and regaining his balance and to cap it all both of them were on what was essentially a disc of virtually friction-free ice; the result was never in doubt. Mighty threw her arms up in front of her face, just about managing to hold in a couple of choice swearwords as she remembered the family audience present at this particular scene in her life; she felt herself run into something soft that soaked up her helpless charge instead of deflecting her from her course, the impact rather like ploughing into a roll of loft insulating material. This surreal feeling persisted for a split second before the inevitable happened and the recoil of Big's compressed fur and body returning to its normal dimensions pushed her backwards, equal and opposite to her original force of impact. This was more than enough to send her flying onto her back, only the natural durability of her shell keeping the breath in her body before she managed to clear her head and look up; the sight awaiting her was enough to test even her iron will to the absolute limit in keeping the naughty words restrained.

Big hadn't, as might have been hoped for under the circumstance, been knocked back by her hit; he was simply too large to be moved like that – instead, already unsteady from turning at her shout, he'd been rocked and then sprung back in response to it. Time seemed to slow down horribly in front of the armadillo's eyes as with mounting horror she realised he'd sprung back too far; his wind-milling arms appeared to be graceful, slow strokes in the air as his bulk tipped him forwards, forwards, forwards – out of instinct she attempted to curl into a ball as Big unwillingly bore down on her like a lavender landslide. She couldn't quite manage it, she was too old by armadillo standards to form a complete sphere with her shell; instead her arms covered her as much as they were able to as she squeezed her eyes shut, not able to look; what sounded like twin supersonic booms echoed in her ears and by a miracle she was still three-dimensional; she dared open her eyes a crack, squinting upwards at the sight before her.

For a second she was transfixed; the second after that she began to splutter with hopeless laughter as Big's face went even rosier from the strain of keeping himself above her, both his brawny arms on either side of her shoulders on the ice, keeping him suspended and her spared from being crushed. _Your face…_; she couldn't help herself even at the same time as try to shuffle backwards, her hands and still-shoed feet trying to bite into the ice for some purchase to move with as she started to heave with a fit of the dreaded giggles; _…that look is just priceless_;

"Ha,hang on", she paused to take another breath before seeking to kick-start her progress again, "I'll get out the way".

"Don't…"; _any second now, she's got to be ready or else…_; "…move". She might have cocked her head to hear him better but at that second it was immaterial anyway; as he'd always known they would, Big's gloves lost their desperate battle with the ice and as a result their traction; had Mighty kept her arms where they were it might not have been so bad but now, as the cat screwed his face up as much as he was able to and attempted a desperate twist to the side, there was just no way of avoiding how bad this was going to look. And judging by the look on her face he'd snatched just before closing his eyes as tightly as he could, it looked like Mighty had realised that eventuality too.

With both air and dignity crushed out of her, Mighty turned a bright, burning scarlet as Big's arms shot out from under him and, blushing furiously with his nose and eyes crinkled as shut as he could make them, he couldn't help but land a picture-perfect face-plant right into her cleavage.

XXX

"Oh dear"; it was like seeing a train wreck piled up in her front lawn – she knew she should turn her head away from the sight before her but at the same time some mystical force had locked all the muscles in her neck, compelling her to see the form of her brother violently hurl himself to the side, his boiling face picked out in perfect detail through her bulging eyes even as she heard her twin agree with her assessment of the situation,

"Oh dear oh dear", Mighty began to sit up; _please be laughing, we can't have made you cry over something like that_; her shoulders were heaving though through hysteria or histrionics she couldn't be sure, "you weren't planning that to happen were you?" Now she could move her head; snapping her gaze around Chloe nailed her sister with her most dangerous glare,

"Of course not; I'd never even think…they were just supposed to take a tumble, nothing like that!" Rather than argue, however, Sophie merely nodded meekly, her ears pressed flat against her skull as she dared take another glance at where the Mobian wreckage was now picking itself up off the floor of the ice rink,

"Just checking you agreed with me; what do we do now?"

"Skate like your life depends on it – if either of them catches us…"; _she can throw the Big guy around like he's nothing – she gets her hands on us and we'll never make it to sixteen and a day old!_; "…we're dead".

"Too right, but, we can't can we?" As her twin gaped, Sophie sucked down a deep, determined breath and forged on with her take on the story ahead of them, "we're supposed to act like adults now; time to walk tall and take it like a Mobian – besides", she leaned forwards, Chloe cocking an ear to listen in as she finished conspiratorially, "if we don't and mum and dad hear about this, or if they tell them about it we're really for the high jump".

"That's a good point", it was one that could swing the force of an argument and, indeed, in this case had; with souls of lead pressing down onto two soles of thin-bladed steel, both girls pushed off towards where a potentially fatal doom was now dusting itself off, unsuspecting of their arrival but quite sure to cotton on to what was happening very quickly when their idea became apparent.

XXX

Big shook his head, his fury outweighed only by his embarrassment as the events of barely even seconds ago were ironed into his brain where they'd never be lost again; for the time being he could barely bring himself to look at his girlfriend whose intimate space he'd so callously invaded, even accidentally. All he could do was offer a hand to the side, keeping his eyes averted and trying to cool his crimson face as he felt pressure on the tips of his fingers; _I should, I've got to say something here – sorry, oops, even bloody sarcasm – just anything_;

"Are, um", he cleared his throat as the grip moved up his arm, Mighty finally coming to her feet, "are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm, er", the merest peek from the corner of his eye let him see the armadillo tugging on the bottom of her top and he looked away again as his blush returned, redoubled, "I'm fine, just a little, ah, well how are you?"

"I'll get over it", the huge cat managed to mumble, trying with the whole might of his memory to think of something clever to say before another sound reached his ears; glancing up, he saw his sisters ease to a halt just ahead of him, each of them clocking a good nine point nine on the up-to-no-good-o-metre as both seemed as unable to look at him as he was unable to hold Mighty in his sights,

"Umm, hi guys, er, well we just…"; _what have you two been up to?_; though the first he'd known that anything had been amiss had been as a frenzied shout assailed his ears and he'd spun around as best as he was able to, faint inklings of suspicion were beginning to spread through Big's mind the same was ink droplets dispersed through water as he carried on observing the general shiftiness of both his sister's behaviour as they stuttered on, mangling the message they were trying to deliver,

"We, well we didn't want, I mean that wasn't…"

"Well it did and you are"; _what?_; still trying to put the pieces back together, the largest cat around was finally able to look at his partner for the day as she glared daggers at the cat girls before her, "think that was funny do you?"

"No, no", Sophie and Chloe chorused together, waving their paws frantically before them as thought hey could bat the armadillo's words out of the air, "we, you weren't supposed to fall like that…"

"You did that!" It was all Big could do to keep his voice below a rumbling roar, his claws starting to flex themselves in response to his sudden flare of anger; checking himself, the eldest of the family present lowered his head and snarled through gritted teeth, "you pair threw Mighty into me?!"

"Yes but…"

"No buts", he slid one foot forwards, Sophie and Chloe backed up several feet with terror draining the blood from their faces, "you two just about ruined a day out for both of us, not to mention humiliated my girlfriend in front of a whole rink full of strangers – how could you be that bloody stupid? I've got a good mind to take us both home right now…"

"No, no you can't", heedless of any sudden danger the twins threw themselves into their older brother as though their combined weight and pleading might sway his opinion; Big, however, was feeling far too bloody-minded to give into that sort of game and shook them both off contemptuously, "…and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Mighty felt the exact same way; do you Mich? The decision's all yours".

_Please, no, don't say it_; the same thought ran through the minds of both twins as they turned horror-numbed gazes towards where the armadillo stood with her arms folded across her recently-ruffled chest, expression as hard and featureless as the shell on her back. Virtually brimming with tears, both cat girls crossed their fingers behind their backs as slowly, ever so slowly, Mighty's lips began to move, the words grating and harsh as she spoke them,

"I agree with you Big"; _and explain…now_; though she had no real intentions of leaving she saw no reasons not to let the twins squirm on the hooks they'd embedded in themselves for as long as possible; only when Chloe in particular looked to be on the verge of breaking down into sobs did the armadillo continue, "but, on the other had, if we do leave now Big, it means I have to miss out on the chance to get back on level pegging with these two clowns".

"Level pegging", rolling the word around like a new and less than pleasant brand of chewing gum, Sophie spoke for both twins when she piped up next, "what's that mean?" Ignoring her, Big answered the Chaotix by the side of him, a softer edge in his voice now as he spoke to her,

"What chance are you on about Might?"

"Well", equally dismissing the two frantically-listening birthday girls in the background, Mighty fingered her chin with a cruel smile hovering just above her lips, "you recall the boast these two made a little while ago?" _Come on, you know the one I'm on about_; mentally ticking off the seconds, the armadillo saw her boyfriend virtually shut down for a short while, cycling through her immaculate memory banks until the item she was referring to came under the spotlight – as his eyes seemed to flicker back to life and he gave a start, she reckoned he'd got it right,

"Which one?"; _ah, not quite then_; "they've made a lot of boasts recently, more hollow than not it has to be said".

"True, very true; well, what say we take a couple of axes to one of those boasts that might have actually been true and hew it down to the roots and then some?" His eyebrow raised and she beckoned him forwards; as she leaned up to whisper into his overhanging ear, Mighty caught a glimpse of the two sisters trying desperately to lean in and catch the edge of a word about what she was saying and the sight of their uncomfortable faces made her heart all the gladder as she gave her attention back to Big and spoke directly to him.

A moment later with the sweat in their gloves starting pool up and soak the fabric trapping it, neither of the two twins were reassured when their brother straightened up and looked at them, a switchblade of a smile slitting his lips as Mighty's face became visible, her smile slightly more benign but still packing a considerable amount of malice behind it as Chloe plucked up the courage to ask the question the situation was begging for,

"Umm, so", trying to sound casual and failing miserably, the cat clasped her hands behind her back and attempted to look appealing, "any news on the master plan?"

"Oh believe me"; _and the unfortunate thing is_; as Big's grin grew ever wider and the tips of his canines began to peek into view from underneath his top lip, Chloe very quickly realised that he was being deadly serious; _I believe every word of it_; "you'll find out".

XXX

_You'll find out_; only now with the wreckage of a proudly borne and long-standing record littering the ground around her did Chloe actually realise what had been meant by those three innocuous words. As she beheld the scoreboard flickering above her, the numbers coming up on the screen to indicate the spare she'd managed to win off a fairly forgiving first ball from her sister, a quick count and some light mental maths already told her the worst – they didn't have a prayer of making up the deficit in the three rounds that were left. With a huff she turned on her heel and headed back towards where the others were sitting, still uncomfortably aware of her parent's less than completely sympathetic gazes boring into her as she took her seat and sighed,

"Well it was a good run while it lasted", with a flex of her fingers, the birthday girl looked up to see Big coming to his feet, "unfortunately it looks like it's not going to be lasting much longer".

"You said it", Sophie agreed with her twin as she too took in the screen above her head, "comprehensively trounced. What's the old saying – revenge is best served chilled, something like that?" Mighty grinned,

"Too true and believe me this is coming fresh off the skating pond", a sudden clattering sound distracted her for a second and she looked over in time to see all ten bowling pins lying scattered at the far end of the alley, "right, next round I'm going first; the rate you're knocking those things over my tail's going numb". The returning Mobian held both hands up in front of him apologetically even if anyone with half an eye would have been able to see the grin plastered on his face,

"Sorry, just making a point", he broke off to snarl mockingly at his younger siblings, considering taking a wrecking ball to their joint boast of being the best bowlers in the family and their school combined a fair trade off for the monstrous embarrassment they'd recently heaped upon his head, "and in some style it has to be said".

"Very true lad, very true", Bill acknowledged his son's point as Tia made her way to select a ball from the rack just before their assigned alley, "I hope you pair learned your lesson and are grateful Mighty's got such a sweet nature", luckily he didn't seem to notice as Big had to turn his back and the aforementioned armadillo herself covered her mouth with a hand in a vain effort to stop the smile spreading out into view, "if that had been me and your mother you'd have tried that with we'd be well on our way home by now".

"We said sorry", Sophie told him testily, though she brightened as her twin gave her a slight nudge in the ribs and a tiny nod became visible in the corner of her eye, "and anyway, we're not through saying it yet; after the game we've got one last surprise planned".

"Really? Sorry love, I only managed three, swerved at the last minute", Tia admitted ruefully as she retook her seat, her husband merely shrugging and standing up to take his turn, though his steps were slow and measured in order to catch the tail end of his daughter's unsuspected announcement, "what's this you've been scheming up girls?"

"Well we knew we had to do something special to try and apologise for the ice trick that went wrong", Chloe began to explain, just about able to keep her expression neutral under her mother's suddenly stern look as she continued, "so we had a heads-together before we started up here and we decided to quickly nip into Accessorize and cash in our vouchers; there was nothing there I really wanted and I don't think you saw anything in there did you?"

"Nah, so we brought the cheapest things were could get our hands on and got the rest back in change", Sophie explained, oblivious to the sound of tumbling pins as her father rejoined the gathering as her voice picked up speed in excitement, "so the fact is we're paying, between us, for a quick bite to eat before we all go home; free choice for you of course as the guest Mighty".

The silence greeting this announcement was broken by a very audible and very obvious snort of laughter as Bill sat down, shaking his head at a joke no-one else seemed able to see save Tia, who, after seeing her partner's face for a moment, joined in the mirth; _what's set them off?_;

"Umm, sorry did we miss something here?"

"No, no, you didn't", the older cat look across at his questioning daughter as she scratched an ear in puzzlement, "I just, I mean you finally got around to acting like adults at long, long last; taking responsibility for your actions, it's a start at least".

"Too true", Mighty chipped in before giving Big a gentle shove, "so go get another strike you; the sooner we finish rolling up here, the sooner we eat and I'm starving". The cat made a disbelieving noise in his throat, one of his hands shooting down to prod her stomach before he quickly stood up,

"Believe me you don't look it"; _outright bloody cheek!_; he was just quick enough to dodge Mighty's affronted slap as he scooted off towards the bowling alley; having long since given up trying to find a ball with holes large enough to accommodate his fingers, he was simply throwing them down the alley like an undershooting catapult. As he drew back his arms to swing, behind him Mighty tried to disguise her already bruised ego taking another knock before bringing herself back onto the topic in hand,

"Right, well ignoring El Tubbo over there, what's the plan? Where are we eating?"

"Nowhere expensive; we're trying to save up as much as we can in case something we want comes along", Chloe admitted before brightening, "still, there's plenty of good eating to be had in this place I can tell you".

"Good, well I'll leave that decision up to you; I'm a stranger here anyway".

"Nah, you're no stranger, you're just strange", Sophie assured her, deflecting the armadillo's glower with a smile as sweet as she could make it. Settling back, a now-familiar crashing noise assailed the armadillo's ears and she looked over to see a single pin rock for a second before slowly settle back to a vertical base; _looks like I'll be clearing up the scraps then – good, I need a bit more time to figure out how I'm going to say_; by sheer good fortune she managed to keep the worry churning her guts from making her face drawn until she'd crossed Big's path on the way to pick up her ball; _what my idea is – I just hope they've not made any plans for that time of year!_

XXX

"Interesting"; that was the best way she could describe the dish before her; she'd eaten pasties before now of course but the specimen she'd selected, one labelled as pork and apple filling, was definitely new to her – tasty but new. Seeing her slight apprehension Big, who had finished first out of all of them by dint of his size, pinched a crumb from the end of her pasty and popped it into his mouth, sucking on the pastry before delivering his own verdict,

"Hmm, a bit heavy for my liking but, overall", he licked his lips, his typically-rasping cat tongue clearing any debris from his whiskers, "not too bad".

"Certainly not; thank you girls, a very nice idea of yours that", Tia praised her daughters as she sat down at the picnic bench set up outside the delicatessen they'd all decided to order from. Virtually glowing from pride, Sophie raised and hand and attempted to act modest,

"Aww don't, it was nothing, except to say sorry", she added with a guilty glance at where Mighty and her brother were sat, their faces growing stern as they were reminded of that particular incident in the very recent past, "I hope it was enough". Big continued to play up his hard-line act until he saw apprehension start to screw itself into his sister's faces before he finally relented a little and gave a grudging smile,

"Fair enough I suppose, though I doubt I'll stop blushing about it this side of Christmas", speaking as he was to his sister opposite him, Big never noticed his partner's ears quiver at the mention of that word, "speaking of which, anyone made any plans about that; is Aunt Margaret visiting again?"

"Probably knowing our luck", Bill sighed in a long-suffering manner, knowing only too well the relationship he had with his wife's sister, "at least this time Ted'll be able to keep her under control; he managed to get his license back you know, so they can drive rather than fly this time".

"That's a bonus", Big agreed, effortlessly recalling the fussiness of his aunt's manner that drove his slightly more easy-going relatives to distraction, "Ted still not conquered his fear of flying yet".

"Nope and I doubt he ever will", Tia shook her head sadly, the vision of her normally stoic smoky-grey brother-in-law cowering in outright terror at the thought of air travel filling her with a great melancholy for his sake, "said it was something to do with him going on a flight as a baby and one of his ears popping; he's never been able to face a 747 since".

"Or answer any question you ask him without having to repeat yourself three or four times – honestly, on the phone he's just impossible to talk to", Sophie informed Mighty, looking across the table towards the armadillo and fully expecting a witty retort or other such comment from the Chaotix; what she didn't expect, however, was to see the armadillo looking distinctly ill at ease, apparently mentally wrestling with a big internal issue that everyone else seemed to have missed up to this point, "Mighty, you all right over there?"

_Oh thank you blabbermouth_; as the rest of the family suddenly tuned in to see her struggle with the question that had been in her mind the whole trip, Mighty tried to direct a basilisk look towards the cat who had started them all looking; _why don't you put up a sign and start a brass band playing while you're at it?_ Her anger, however, deserted her – after all Sophie was only being conscientious in hoping to solve a problem that had been bugging her about as much as a plateful of cake crumbs under her shell. Instead, after a second of almost painful silence, she finally dredged up enough courage to look up at the concerned cat family and boldly state her new objectives,

"Yes I'm fine thanks you Sophs; the thing is though", she wet her lips at this, the most crucial of times as far as she was concerned, "I have been doing some thinking about Christmas, quite a lot of it actually and, it's a bit of a tradition for my family, the whole of my family that is, to hold a big get-together over Christmas and New Year. I was, ah, just interested in whether you had anything like that in your family, sort of thing?" _She's leading up to something_; a flick of the eyes to see her husband's thoughts an exact mirror of her own let Tia know that – the question was what was she up to, and why had she asked that particular question? _Still, regardless of why, it's a reasonable question so I can't see the harm in answering_;

"Er, no not really, not to the extent you're making out at least; it's usually just a couple of the grandparents or aunts and cousins really", Tia answered after a couple of seconds thinking, just prior to voicing the killing query, "why'd you want to know?"

"Because"; _go for it – you've gone this far there's nothing left to lose now_; "because I just wanted to know if Big would like to come with me over Christmas, that was all".

XXX

"Huh?" Caught out a little by the unexpectedness of Mighty's question, Big wasn't altogether sure he was hearing her idea right, "what do you mean?"

"Just wanted to set the record straight between us; I mean", gesturing to the rest of the table with one hand, the armadillo spelt it out for the benefit of all concerned, "you've been open enough to let me into your family, the least I can do is offer the same chance to you, if it won't get in the way of course".

"Get in the way, oh I see what you mean"; _she was worried that we'd be planning something over the festive period_; the depth of his admiration for Mighty's thinking of others before herself was marred only by his concern for how much of a toll agonising over this decision must have taken on her; _how long had this been weighing on your mind Mighty?_; "umm, well like mum said, nothing's ever really planned, especially not at this early stage".

"Early?" Despite everything else Mighty managed a laugh at that, "I've usually got all my presents brought and start looking for the decorations in the loft by now, but that's just me", she tacked on as an afterthought before forcing herself back on topic, "so, the offer's there Big; it'd be an experience, I can promise you that – pretty much the entirety of my clan'll be congregating up there so, in at the deep end I'm afraid". To her relief the cat chuckled,

"Just as long as I've got my life belt I'll be fine. Still though", now more serious, the cat drew one hand to his chin, fishing for some more information, "where's this big barney of your held?"

"Scotland", Mighty answered simply, the succession of almost-shocked gasps from around the table letting her know that her plan of shock value had gone well in this instance, "don't worry, the travel won't cost you a penny; you'd be the guest after all".

"Sounds like a good deal there son", Tia reached over to rub the courser fur on Big's shoulder before finishing with a question directed at Mighty, one that her maternal instincts had registered now she knew for a fact, rather than suspected as she had before, that there was something gnawing at the other Mobian, "was this keeping you up last night?"

"Umm", she couldn't deny it, not even when the rest of the table swapping glances before looking at her as though expecting her to pass out in a dead faint on the spot, "no, mostly it was due to the transport but I'd be lying if I said this had nothing to do with me feeling tired in the morning".

"Well don't you be so bloody stupid again Michelle Armadillo"; _yes sir!_; the authoritarian snap, so much an echo of an order her own father might have made, was enough to make sure she paid attention to Bill's forceful declaration, "Big my lad, I expect you to go with this young lady throughout the entire holiday period; Mighty, can you get enough time off to see us before you'd have to fly out to Scotland?"

"Yeah, that shouldn't be too much of a problem", with flames of hope starting to lick at her emotions, all the more sweetly searing due to the recent doubts that had been plaguing her, the armadillo remembered to put her answer into a business context at the last minute, "I've been doing a lot of overtime recently, always do in the run-up for this exact reason". Bill nodded, as far as he was concerned the matter being discussed an apparently done deal,

"Good; as long as you, the pair of you that is", he amended, Mighty just about suppressing a blush as he gave a very pointed glance in her direction as he emphasised the word 'pair', "can make it down here some time in December before you fly out there'll be no complaints from anyone in this family. You're a lucky Mobian Big", nodding at the words of his father at the same time as slide an arm around Mighty's shoulders, the armadillo grateful as never before for the feeling of support, "Scotland's supposed to be lovely at that time of the year".

"It is", Chloe broke in on the conversation unexpectedly, explaining eagerly as her bewildered twin began to finally cotton on, "remember the snaps that weird art teacher we had stand in on one of our lesson showed us; he said that was Scotland. It really was a winter white-out; you could have snowball fights for months in some of those stills".

"Oh yeah, been there and done that", the magic was back in her system again, flowing out from her memories like the flow of bubbles from recently-shaken champagne, "some of the times I was there as a nipper; start throwing as soon as the sun came up, have a quick break for dinner and back in for tea, eight, ten hours you'd be lost in a world of white".

"Where is it? I mean, how long's this been going on?"

"Years", Mighty answered without even recognising who'd asked the question, all was blissful for her now as she had the answer she'd needed for months, "as far as I know my family originated in Scotland and we stayed true to our roots as much as we were able to, visiting once a year. We've still got family there; tell you what", seeing the sudden deepening of the armadillo's gaze and the slightly cruel edges hovering around her smile, both birthday cats swapped a glance that quite plainly said 'uh-oh', "I'll let you know all about it whilst perusing though a couple of cute lil' kitten-flicks".

XXX

Later that night, after speaking and laughing until her throat felt hoarse and cracked, Mighty took a glimpse at the title of the book she'd brought with her and, with a shrug, shoved it back into the pocket of her travel bag; _not doing to need any help nodding off tonight_. That, she recognised as she drew in a massive yawn, was certainly true; a pulse-pounding day coupled with the restless night she'd had prior to today was a combination guaranteed to have her in the land of Nod in very short order. To this end she quickly slid under the bed covers, arranging them atop herself and resting in the soft material beneath her; though her shell was nerveless and that technically meant she wouldn't have really noticed if there had been no blankets present at all, for some reason she always slept better in a bed; _must be to do with psychology, or sociology – have to ask Amy about it at some point_. As her eyes fell softly shut she puzzled over that idea and concluded that it made a lot of sense – the way the Smurf went on about his girlfriend and how well she was doing in her chosen subject of study, speaking to her about a quirk like that would…she put that thought on hold as there was a gently tap at the door. Peeking an eye open, Mighty decided she was feeling far too lazy to get up and answer the door and instead called out quietly,

"Come in"; the door swung open but very little light from the hallway entered, blocked out by Big's imposing presence as he took a step inside, letting the bedroom door swing shut behind him,

"Hey", Mighty waved a greeting as he padded towards her bed, though some little imp of merry devilment jumped up to add a slight barb to her words, "I hope you've come here with honourable intentions?"

"You know me too well", Big answered chortling; hitching over to the side, the armadillo gave her boyfriend enough room to sit down next to her, though as his large hazel eyes rolled down to her there was the hint of a smirk on his face, "don't tempt me though".

"As if I would", Mighty tried to sound affronted and failed, giggling under the duvet as Big slowly reached over, his hand tracing the brow ridge of her shell and feathering her forehead as he spoke again,

"Just dropped I to make sure you're settled okay; don't want another rough night for you or come tomorrow morning you'll be half-dead".

"Half-dead at best", the armadillo assured him; she'd never coped all that well on anything less than eight hours a night, "don't worry though, I'll be away with the fairies tonight I can assure you".

"Good", his hand withdrew and he smiled at her, the moonlight creeping in through the gap in the curtain dappling his expression, pronouncing the crease in his forehead as his expression changed to one of consternation for a moment, "listen Mighty, and please don't take this as criticism of any kind, but next time you need to ask something of any of us, just ask; I mean, what was the worst thing that could have happened? I'd have been forced to say no".

"That's what I was afraid of", the armadillo admitted, squirming a little now that, with the benefit of hindsight she could quite easily see that had she simply done just that she'd have saved herself a lot of stress. Big nodded to put her at ease before carrying on with his talk,

"Well, even if that had been the case all we'd have had to do would be figure something else out to visit; I mean I'm certainly looking forwards to meeting your clan, as you put it", Mighty chuckled at the tone of his voice before turning serious again, "but we'd have found another way. Don't get so worked up about things".

"I can't help it, it really is a woman thing", she riposted, bringing one of her hands free of the blanket to rub the fur on Big's chest for a second before settling on his knee, "I know I should try and take things in my stride but sometimes, you know how it is when you really, really want something to come off?"

"I know, believe me I never forget that feeling; anyway, you know now and I'm extremely humbled and grateful for the invite; I'll see you tomorrow Mighty". He felt her hand give a gentle squeeze in answer and patted the back of it in kind before heaving himself upright, looking to bunk down himself for the night – halfway to the door, however, he paused at her voice from the bed,

"Hold on, before you go, can I get a look at your nose a second?"

"My nose", the cat repeated in puzzlement, "what on Earth for?"

"Just trust me"; _right, and that's supposed to reassure me is it?_; still, he nevertheless made his way back to where the armadillo was taking her repose and lowered his face towards her; in kind, she reached up and brushed the tip of his nostrils with the edge of her thumb for a second before giving a chuckle,

"Ah well, only you and I know exactly where it's ended up today".

"Shut up", Big demanded petulantly, face already starting to carbonise again at the reminder as he stood up, "just as well this thing of yours is at Christmas, it'll take me until then to stop going red every time I think of that pratfall".

"I know; tell you what if our faces had been any hotter back then we'd have melted a hole through the ice for us to hide in".

"And believe me I'd have stayed in there", the cat told her as he brought himself up to his full height for the second time, "anyway, if you're quite happy with the inspection…?"

"Yeah that'll do", the armadillo chuckled, gesturing to the door, "go get your head down, we both could use some kip".

"Tell me about it; goodnight Mighty", reaching over the cat covered one of her hands with his own, holding for s brief second before letting it drop once more, "I'll see you in the morning".

"You bet you will", the armadillo assured him, her eyes tracking his every movement as he moved towards the door; the massive cat hesitated for a second as he stood framed in the doorway a second time, then he gently pulled the door to behind him, leaving Mighty alone for the night with sleep and memories to entertain her.

A/N: Bit of a big chapter but hopefully all worth it in the end. So, off to bonnie Scotland over the festive period; what awaits this new couple when they get there, or even before then? Carry on reading to find out!


	3. Chapter 3 Surprises Nice and Nasty

Chapter 3 – Surprises Nice and Nasty.

A/N: Sorry it took so long but I have had almost literally no time to myself over the past couple of weeks; hopefully that might start to ease off in a while, but until then the flow of chapters might be a little choked off. Still, as always someone to say thanks to:

BC – Hey, don't knock the chippie; I used to work in one, good job it was as well. Glad to hear you're trusted with technology again – just keep that diary up to date to cover your back if there is a next time!

XXX

_Well she's sure got a spring in her step_; hearing a key grate in the lock of his front door at the same time as know that Vector wasn't due back for at least another hour or so, Charmy's natural curiosity brought him to his feet and let him poke his head around the kitchen door – the sight that had greeted him seemed to accompany the thought that popped from nowhere into his head as Mighty set her bag down by the coat rack, humming what seemed to be a merry tune under her breath as she hung up a scarf. Biting back a smile, the insect called out to his team mate as she paused for a second, apparently lost in thought,

"Hey"; _Charmy – I didn't think anyone was in?_; obviously her earlier assumption had been false and she was grateful for that, "have a good trip back?"

"Not too bad, though I much prefer the Tornado to the train; I just cannot understand the rationale behind the people who design those seats", the armadillo said as she exercised one of her pet hates, the plates in her back chafing together with a harsh, grating noise as she pushed her hips forwards in an attempt to stretch out her spine a little more, "you'd need a neck like a giraffe to reach the actual head rest and you'd need to be as skinny as a stick-insect to actually fit between the damn arm-rests". Charmy raised a finger warningly,

"Watch what you say there pal, some of my best friends were stick-insects. Anyway, I know just the thing to sort out your travel sickness", darting out from behind the front room door, the bee nipped into the kitchen and Mighty heard a rattling of crockery, followed a second later by her younger friend's voice, "need a nice, hot mug of something sweet".

"Let me guess; enough sugar in it to feed a hive of honey bees for a month?" A sudden giggle erupted from the kitchen and Mighty allowed herself a triumphant smile; _been waiting to use that one for ages_;

"Not quite that bad, good line though"; coming from Charmy that was a real compliment; as she stepped into the kitchen and took a seat at the table, conscientiously pulling out a stool for Charmy as he fussed around with the kettle, Mighty reckoned she had a right to feel pleased with herself as she sat back down, her body at home even if her mind was hovering away towards the future, trying to map out a path in the mists of time awaiting her and seeing if the way she had chosen only a few nights before led to a productive path for both her and Big… _I've done everything right, even made sure I had enough put away fro a pair of tickets just in case – the only thing I can think that might go wrong is if my darling dad decides to…_;

"Hello"; something snapped right in front of her unseeing eyes and she gave a violent start, the tabletop rattling as she banged it with her thighs, "Earth to armadillo".

"Huh, wha…oh, yeah, sorry, had a moment out for a minute".

"And then some", the bee admonished, though there was no malice in his voice as Mighty's nose, finally coming back to the present with the rest of her, managed to identify the scent that had popped up seemingly out of nowhere; she glanced down and promptly went red, the sight of the two steaming mugs in her friend's hands a stark reminder of how long she must have been zoned.

"Sorry Charm, that's really rude of me…"

"Don't worry, you're always the same when you get back for visiting the Big guy".

"No, that's no excuse; after all you've been…", at that point the bee's last words registered and she choked off in mid-flow, trying to make them make sense, "…always?"

"Oh yeah, like not last time, the time before that", Mighty drew a blank for a moment before grasping the edge of a memory and nodding, "you came in, said hi and went into your room; you could tell from your face, the wheels were turning but the hamster's on holiday".

"Really?" _News to me_; though it did make a certain amount of sense as, now that she actually thought about recent examples, Mighty found she couldn't clearly recall much about the hours following touching back down on Angel Island following visiting her boyfriend, "oh well, sorry but you know me; if I don't get some quiet time to think about what just happened I might well lose it forever; got a lot in common with Big, sadly a half-decent memory's never been one of them".

"Ditto sense of direction", the bee countered with his typical quipping aplomb, though he made sure he was ready for a speedy getaway prior to shooting his lip off; _okay, keep it casual but I don't think she's going to snap_; Mighty gave a slight scowl but nothing more, in fact she brightened a second later and beckoned him to listen in; _and this could get interesting – she usually doesn't spill anything to us until at least the day after she gets back_. A little perturbed by the turn of events, Charmy nevertheless paid attention of the next words of his fellow Chaotix,

"Well that's as maybe but you just reminded me of something I had to say, and I suppose I'd better break it to you first without the other two around; where actually are they out of interest?"

"Vec's hitting the shops and Esp's on schedule; he's covering for Knucks – mothers orders you know?"

"Oh, not nice"; _I hope for his sake Rouge didn't ask Lara to show him what she told me she had in mind for these little 'mother-son' moments – even if he did swap her eyeliner with a stick of charcoal for a joke there are limits to how much a man can take_; "Knuckles never has been much of a shopaholic and I'd bet trawling around looking for baby clothes and push chairs isn't his idea of a fun day out".

"Too true, mind you at least he won't have to try anything on before his mum decided to buy it, but anyway, you were saying?"

"Yes I was; well it's to do with Christmas, and the time running up to that".

As she'd expected there was a sudden spike of interest from the Mobian before her; though nothing much passed through him save a quickly-subsiding quiver, she'd seen the supernova of excitement in his eyes and heard the slight rustling of his wings as they straightened out over each other and the hairs on his back, a sure sign he was seriously interested in something. _As well he might be_; the armadillo thought to herself, remembering the way she'd felt in the months running up to her finally making it to the big number; _you're not sixteen every day, and I'm sure Vec at least will go all out to make sure it's a KO celebration of the fact._

One of the first facts the armadillo had learned about the former trio she'd found herself mobbed up with in the aftermath of Metal Sonic's most recent attack of the shrine of the Master Emerald;_ another thing I owe you for pal – you got me this job, cheers for that_; was that the month of December was a little congested in the Chaotix calendar. The basic reason for this was that Charmy had been born, or to be more accurate had emerged from his pupae state, which was much the same thing as a birthday for members of the insect species, just before the yuletide; rather than have to deal with and, more importantly, have to find the cash to finance two celebrations so close to each other, what Vector and Espio had done instead was to roll the two into one and hold a real grand-daddy of a blow-out on the twenty-fifth. This system had worked well for a number of years now, almost to the point where even the bee himself considered his birthday to have changed to Christmas day rather than the twenty-first, but this year was special even above and beyond the others because this year Charmy turned sixteen, an adult in the eyes of his insectile peers. _That on top of the rumours coming from Wyn's direction about something to do with the start of the month and it makes for a pretty cluttered-up social calendar_; Mighty flicked her gaze to the far wall for a moment and saw the pages of the battered calendar hanging from the side of one of the cupboard racks, its page now proudly displaying the month of October; _still, this might actually make life a little less hectic for the three of them – come to think of it I might be doing them all a favour by getting myself off like I am_;

"Yeah", excitement edged his voice as he leaned forwards, "what's your idea?"

"Not an idea I'm afraid, more like a certainty", the armadillo informed him with a somewhat heavy-hearted shrug, "sorry to drop this on you but I'm afraid I won't be around come the twenty-fifth – you know, my family thing?"

"Oh, right"; he was disappointed, there was no way he could disguise it completely but to his credit he made a bold effort of covering up his sense of loss as he continued, "why's that, I mean, what's the family thing all to do with, and don't say Christmas". _Damn_; snapping her fingers as he choked off her potential quip right on the cusp of her delivering it, Mighty had to settle for a split-second glare in his direction before answering with as much positive spin as she could put on the after-effects of her announcement,

"It's just a tradition that grew up from years ago; every year as many of us that can make it ups-sticks and move out to the highlands, yeah it's held in Scotland – it's where my family's had its roots since the Dark Ages apparently", she informed the bee as he stared wide-eyed at her announcement of destination, "and we move into a hotel-slash-old fashioned guest house up there for two weeks over Christmas and New Year. Basically it's a fortnight of catching up and carousel before we all shake hands and go home, ready for next year; it's the only time my family ever really gets together – I mean I haven't seen my mum or dad since before I got back in touch with Sonic.

"Wow", was all even Charmy could say for a minute before his mind managed to encompass what he'd just heard and he translated it into an opportunity, "well, when you're all up there and raising the roof, get a round in for me would you?" Mighty gave a disbelieving snort,

"Get raffled; with my family that wouldn't just break the bank, it'd atomise it – alright whisky flows like it's spring water up there but there's so many of them I'd probably have to pawn the Master Emerald to cover the tab".

"And wouldn't Knuckles just love that?" The bee chuckled for a second, his fertile imagination letting a picture of an irate guardian finding the central pedestal of the shrine deserted save for a slip of paper with the words IOU written on it occupy it for a moment. After joining him in sniggering for a bit, Mighty decided she'd never get a better chance than this to come completely clean with the whole truth and spoke up again,

"I bet he would, but anyway, the fact of the matter is that this year, unlike all the other years, I'm not going to this bash on my own. I…"

"I", Charmy interrupted her with a devilish glint in his eye, "feel love in the air; did he sign up right away or did he play hard to get? Aww, you don't know how cute you are when you're acting coy". Trying as hard as she could to stop flushing rose, the elder member of the Chaotix glanced away for a second and answered only when she was sure the bee wasn't gloating outright,

"No I don't and no he didn't; he was very forthright about it actually, said yes when he realised his mum and dad didn't mind and there was nothing going on about Christmas his end. Anyway, now that's all sorted I can get the tickets sorted out, need two seats booked instead of one".

"Or three instead of two; joke, joke!" Charmy shot into the air as Mighty lunged over the tabletop at him – tomboy she might have been but, plagued with a deadweight she could do nothing about due to the density of her shell, she tended to take criticism about her waistline rather badly, "you're looking fine, in fact I'd swear you've lost a couple of pounds since the last time we had you up on the scales".

"Yeah, and because I'm so nice I'm going to help you lose a couple too", the armadillo snarled through gritted teeth, jumping around to try and grab one of the bee's legs as he hovered as close to the ceiling as he could possibly manage, "those wings and that stinger for instance, I'm sure they must be dragging you down; here, let me get rid of them!"

"Mercy, mercy; come on, chill out, you know I never mean it, and anyway I was talking about Big's needs not yours and we all know he can't help being as tubby as he is", the bee greased obsequiously, beginning to lose altitude as Mighty's rage began to seep away, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't say things like that". Crossing his fingers Charmy let his feet touch the ground again; for a second his blood froze as Mighty looked like she was ready to pounce before she sighed exasperatedly, roughly tapping his shoulder affectionately before retaking her seat heavily; _don't say it, don't say it – remember you've got to make to the twenty-fifth to prove Esp wrong_. Virtually biting his tongue to stop the begging insinuation from being released Charmy instead meekly retook his own place, breaking the gathering tension with an offer of peace,

"Tell you what, I'll get the ironing sorted for the night just to prove how sorry I am", Mighty glanced up unconvinced but Charmy pressed on regardless, "and I mean that; after all, I need to keep everyone I know as sweet as possible in the run-up to Christmas – I'm going to make it to sixteen come hell or high water just to spite the needle-nose". The armadillo couldn't help but smile at his suddenly-stubborn pose, chin jutting forwards assertively as she looked on and recalled all the times the misanthropic chameleon had assured the bee that he'd never make to adulthood after Charmy had done something or other to offend his delicate sensibilities. And even in the relatively few months Mighty had been a part of the team they'd been numerous occasions as it appeared that all Charmy had to do to rub Espio up the wrong way was smile or breathe.

"Well good luck to you; all right, it's a done deal – get the airing cupboard empty and I won't pummel you flat as a pancake".

"Ah, that's a weight off my mind", the bee remarked off-handedly, only realising what he'd said two seconds too late, "oops".

"Yes, oops", Mighty assured him, hoping her half-concealed smile represented a fearsome scowl from his point of view, "that'll be next weeks ironing as well I take it?"

"Will it? Oh all right"; _I know when I've backed the wrong horse, even if I didn't actually mean that…hey_; "where are you off?"

"Going to unpack", Mighty called over her shoulder, only to come to a halt as Charmy pointed out a relevant fact,

"Hey, 'fore you do, get a reminder on the calendar; you won't forget to call the airlines then". _Good point_;

"Nice one", re-entering the kitchen she snagged a pen from the pot on the side, clicking the tip out and stretching up to flick back the pages of the Chaotix's calendar, "well said that bee; got a number for the airlines at all up here, or will Tails be able to put me in touch you think?"

"Hey, you never know they might have the airport on Angel Island up and running by Christmas; I'm not hopeful mind", Charmy mused, having been following the story of the newest public building in Echidnopolis avidly by reading Vector's paper when the crocodile had finished doing the crosswords, "still, you'd need to get to Mystic Ruins anyway wouldn't you?"

"'Fraid so", Mighty assured him as she finished her pen strokes on the pages of the calendar, "need to pick the Big guy up; I know he's got a heck of a casting arm but I think even he might struggle to latch onto an overhead 747".

"You never know", Charmy's voice floated to her as she casually dropped the pen back in with its fellows, "he managed to land you as a prize catch didn't he, that's gotta take some doing". He chuckled for a second but, as Mighty slowly revolved around in the doorway with a Look on her face, he went pale and his voice died, its remaining ghost just about to managing to cheep the few words that would save his skin,

"Week after next as well; that be enough to say sorry?"

XXX

Almost two months to the day following Mighty making that first mark on the calendar, her hand moved towards the same piece of paper once more, this time drawing a single, shaky line through the date she had pencilled in after getting in contact with the airlines to find the cheapest price for a flight towards her home town. As the line straggled over the date she had set Mighty took a deep breath;_ so, this is really it – it all starts today_; somehow no matter how many times she mentally repeated those words they still wouldn't sink in – in fact it was only the vague memory of rushing around her shared residence in a blind panic the previous evening with a hastily-scribbled tick sheet that allowed her to even consider that the day for her to leave for the holiday had finally arrived. Slowly settling back down on her heels, the armadillo slowly placed the pen back in her pocket and turned around to head into the lounge, the butterflies fluttering around in her stomach dissuading her from the notion of eating, only to jump back suddenly, crashing into the counterpane behind her with a gasp as Espio, similarly surprised, leapt back away from her in kind,

"Watch where you're going", Mighty snapped, recovering her tongue slightly the faster and venting her sudden shock on the potentially innocent chameleon, "that could have taken my eye out". Fingering the tip of his horn, Espio merely sniffed and blew on his hands, still cold despite the modesty of the winter weather Angel Island had suffered so far,

"Pardon me for getting breakfast", he replied sourly, reaching for a bowl before remarking, "you're not eating I take it?"

"No, not a chance, and not just because I'm flying later either; I tell you Esp, I'm so, so something", she couldn't even accurately describe what she was feeling any more, just that it was buzzing right through her like a hive of frustrated hornets, "I couldn't keep a thing down me if my life depended on it". A sudden clumping filled the air from the direction of the hallway; Espio glanced behind him and smiled sardonically,

"An affliction, I can assure you, that has never troubled my somewhat less than illustrious colleague here".

"Someone talkin' 'bout me?" Vector asked blearily as he pulled out and slumped into the nearest seat, still not quite going due to the weakness of the winter sunlight failing to get him working to his full potential. Seizing on this, Espio nodded and spoke again, ignoring Mighty's frantic hand gestures for silence,

"Yes; Mighty's not feeling up to a full breakfast this morning due to her forthcoming trip, I just pointed out that you've never had to suffer the indignity of a lost appetite". Vector appeared to take a second to digest these words; Mighty fancied she could almost see the half-frozen cogs turn in his mind before he grinned and tapped the table, seemingly appeased,

"Too right; lost yer stomach Might"; _sad but true_; the armadillo confirmed his rough diagnosis with a rueful nod and he tutted severely, "nuthin' worse than that; still, once yer hit dirt-side Big'll sort y'out – give 'im our best, by the way".

"I will, he always knows", she assured him, about to ask where Charmy was before remembering in the nick of time that he'd be at the shrine; standard operating procedure for the Chaotix. In winter, when neither of the two reptiles were working at a hundred percent, the industrious bee did all the running in the morning, compensating for an early start with an earlier finish when Vector and Espio finally managed to get their acts together. It was actually a little quiet without him around; a combination of the early hours and Mighty's strangely, almost forcefully subdued excitement; _if I just start running around like a mad thing time'll just start to crawl – I know it's finally today but for goodness sake keep your head_; made for a virtually silent kitchen. In fact, it was to the surprise of all present, probably even himself, that Espio ended up breaking the silence,

"So", he almost bottled it then, his own voice seeming to swell up ominously in the still atmosphere, "what time are we expecting Tails to show up?"

"Midday sometime", Mighty answered before her excitement, simply demanding a vent of some kind, no matter how pitifully small or short, compelled her to spell out her entire plan for the holiday, "I get two nights down in Mystic Ruins, then it's an overnight flight towards whichever airport it is we're heading towards, East Midlands or Robin Hood, one or the other, a day after that to recover, then three days over at my parents before another day's travel up to bonnie Scotland…"

"…an' it all kicks off frum there", Vector finished for her, leaning back in his chair to flick the kettle on, "so, sounds like a plan, an' tha's all we've ever needed".

"A plan and a lot of luck", Espio corrected for him, though as Vector shot him a glance from the side of his eyes the chameleon suddenly paid more attention; _that wasn't anything casual – what have you got planned – oh yeah, forgot that was today._ Originally unsure, Espio recovered both his memory and his poker face at the same time; before Mighty could notice anything amiss his ninja façade swallowed the revelation tracelessly and he fell silent and got on with his breakfast. Fortunately, Mighty was in such a state that she wouldn't notice much of anything unless it sat up and bit her on the nose, so chameleon and crocodile both had to merely keep the peace until the plan three quarters of the Chaotix had set secretly in motion to come to fruition.

When the knock at the door finally came Mighty had answered it almost before the noise had registered with either of the other two occupants of her current residence; fortunately though, as the tip of her tail disappeared around the frame of the lounge door, her pre-occupation with the visitor she'd been excepting all day gave Vector enough time to get his partner in crime in on the action as he reclined in his armchair, just about palming his handset away before Mighty could get a glimpse and get suspicious; _not like she would at the minute mind – she's so far gone looking forwards to this trip down she wouldn't see the edge of Angel Island until she walked off it. _ The thought made the crocodile chortle a little, though he disguised the noise behind a cough before starting; an oblong package landed suddenly in his lap, the corner digging into the top of his thigh making him start and look up frantically; fortunately he was able to put a cap on his sudden adrenaline spike as he saw who else had entered his domicile, hidden behind the bulky shell of the armadillo he had followed inside.

XXX

It had been only a few days ago, little more than a week though it felt like an awful lot longer than that, since at a table around one of the more high-class restaurants in Echidnopolis two future parents had dropped a first-class bombshell on someone they had invited to the gathering; from where he was now, Vector reckoned he could still see the shockwaves reverberating through the short frame stood in front of him. _Thirteen, maybe fourteen, a first class pilot_; returning a casual greeting, Vector kept his eyes on Tails as the fox stepped into the lounge himself, obviously looking to see if Mighty needed a hand with any of her bags; _and now a godfather-to-be of all things. Still, if anyone deserved that title it was him – sending the pair of them on a cruise just because they offered him a bed to crash in and a couple of hot meals every so often_; once more he could clearly see the scene in his mind.

In that timeless moment, the air around the restaurant seemed to simultaneously freeze and crackle with invisible electricity; Lara, pregnancy bump just about peeking over the top of the table as her husband, Wynmacher, and her first son, the current guardian of the Master Emerald and in a sense the current employer of the Chaotix Knuckles and his own suave and classy bride Rouge, had said the words that had shocked all of them. Least of all Tails himself; just from the look on his face, to say nothing of the way he had dropped his wine glass in the middle of a toast and probably stained his crisp white shirt irredeemably, it was obvious that her offer of making him the godfather to her unborn child; _poor kid – I said it then and I say it again now, Knuckles I can just about understand but Kneecaps the Echidna?_; had completely sandbagged him. Like the rest of the table Vector had watched on as the fox had struggled to rise and then walk torturously towards the head of the table, finally completing his journey to collapse against the echidna lady as everyone else, wild joy thundering in their hearts and tears sparkling in their eyes, had fallen into applause headlong – it was unscripted, it was instantaneous and it had been completely natural, a spontaneous outpouring of affection for both the soon-to-be parents and the newly christened soon-to-be godfather.

Carefully making sure he was unobserved as he completed his inspection of the fox in question as he appeared now, Vector found himself agreeing with something Shadow had mentioned to him on the one occasion the Chaotix had hooked up with him and his new girl, the ex-Dark Legionnaire Julie-Su; there was no doubt about it, Tails had changed a little because of his newly granted responsibility. He stood a little taller now, looked up more rather than at the floor as he had occasionally in the past; in a word, he'd grown up some more since that night. Still, that was no bad thing and if anything, as he looked down into his lap and eased a couple of new batteries free of the pack of ten after smiling for a second, Vector decided that was definitely a plus for him; _he must have remembered that I was running low – would he have seen that a couple of weeks back, I doubt it._

"Hey dude, how's thing's bin 'anging downstairs, an' Might", the armadillo looked up, straightening with her bags in her hands as though unsure why the crocodile would want to speak to her now just seconds before her immanent departure, "'old your 'orses a sec; got the rest o' the crew on the way; 'aving one last brew-up 'fore you pair 'ave to get on yer way".

"Really? Sweet", Tails commentated, cleverly piping Mighty to the post before she could register much of a protest to the delay, "I could use a cup of tea, preferably with something stronger in it", Vector bit back a smile as the foxboy grimaced, "how Shadow puts up with that woman I have no idea; even I'd have throttled her a long, long time ago".

"Oh, you mean the old Snapdragon", Mighty twigged a couple of second later, the quiver than ran through Tail's frame at the word giving her all the answer she needed, "yeah, she's not in his good books either most of the time, mind you, I don't suppose he sees her for more than a few minutes each day".

"A few minutes is way, way too many; mind you", the fox glanced up again and somehow Vector just knew what he was going to say next; he tried to stop himself smiling at the mammal's inflection but someone one cracked over his scaled lips despite his best mental efforts, "I suppose he's got Jules waiting for him when he gets home – gotta be something to look forwards to at the end of even your worst day at work".

"As is the thought of Cream staying up for you I suppose"; _ouch, touché good lady_; heaving with laughter that seemed to be stoked by the fire that suddenly raced across Tails' face, visible even at his distance through the fox's fur, Vector grinned as Mighty ladled it on with a bucket, "aww, still gotta love young love – nothing cuter in the world". Tails looked for a moment like he was about to explode before he forced himself to breath out a low, slow breath and spoke with as much decorum as he could muster under the desperate circumstances,

"I am not in love with Cream; she is my friend"; not to be deterred, Mighty couldn't help but go the extra mile,

"Aww, you don't know how cute you are when you're trying to deny the obvious". _Ooh, this could get unpleasant_; Vector gripped the armrests of his favourite comfy chair, ready to pounce in a second if Tails made to pounce on Mighty as it looked like he was threatening to, his temper stoke to fury by the reference to a relationship that both Mobians involved in it vehemently denied existed at all. However such a precaution was proved to be unnecessary as there was an electrical fizzing noise from somewhere downstairs and, hearing it, Vector rose to his feet like one of the legendary dinosaurs his species had at one time shared the planet with and planted a hand on the fox's shoulder.

"Sorry ta bust yer flush kidder but couldya put yer plan fer beatin' me teammate to paste on 'old for a mo; at least let us drink to 'er leavin' 'fore ya start launching 'er off on the 'jector seat". Tails slid him a sidelong glance before a dangerous smirk crossed his lips and he gave his attention back to Mighty,

"Nice idea there Vec; I hope your swimming skills have gotten better Mighty, it's a long way to Station Square from here".

XXX

Though a little caught out by the unexpected gathering being thrown in her honour and chafing at the slight delay it was imposing on her day plan, Mighty was more than polite enough not to throw a spanner in the works of Vector's well-worked scheme. Especially when, having headed out of the lounge for the kitchen in time to see Charmy nip up into the hallway from the hidden basement of the Chaotix's home, where their means of instantaneous transport to the shrine of the Master Emerald was concealed, the armadillo found herself pausing at another burst of static from downstairs – who else could be arriving? Waving at the rest of her fellows to hold fast for a second, she stayed where she was with her eyes trained on the head of the stairs down into the bottom area of the residence, wondering if she would be right in her guessing. As she expected, hot on the heels of her insect friend came first one, then the other of the guardian partnership, Rouge slightly in the lead as Mighty, giving a quick headcount and remembering Espio was still at home, had to echo Charmy's mischievous smile as he slipped past her and enquire politely,

"All right guys, how are you both doing?"

"We're fine; both sad to see you going though", Rouge admitted quite freely; _and I am especially – we're different as chalk and cheese but I'm going to miss having you around, especially on shift – it's always nice to get a bit of a chat in there while you're on duty_; "I sometimes reckon you're the only one keeping this mob in order and getting them to work on time, him especially". Knuckles put his hands on his hips and sneered at his wife's back as she jerked a thumb over her shoulder, though he quickly looked up as Mighty spoke once more, just about stopping herself giggling at Rouge's inflection regarding two-thirds of the guardian and Chaotix workforce combined,

"Ah, never underestimate a woman's touch, especially when it's one of mine slapping you awake first thing in the morning. Anyway, apart from that, who's looking after the Emerald Knucks – one of your granddads?" The echidna raised a hand and shook his head,

"Nah"; though technically Knuckles should have informed the Brotherhood of Guardians, the cabal of ancient former guardians of the Master Emerald who occasionally resumed their old duties on behalf of their youngest member when neither he nor the Chaotix were available, about his absence, he hadn't considered a half-hour break to say goodbye to a close friend a reason to get them involved, "what they don't know can't hurt them, and besides it's not worth getting my ear chewed off by Thunderhawk again. If I have to hear about the 'solemn duties of the guardian being above and beyond anything else' one more time, unique gift or not I swear I'm going to make Sojourner second-in-command of the Brotherhood". Mighty smiled, knowing for a fact that Knuckles would never even attempt anything he'd just said for at least two reasons; firstly he actually had a reasonable relationship with his bombastic sixth-father, certainly a more productive one than he shared with his emotionally-repressed biological parent Locke. The second reason was that the guardian wasn't stupid enough to challenge his much older relative seriously; as Mighty herself knew having unwisely taken the lavender former guardian up on his offer a brief sparring bout, Thunderhawk had been blessed by the Master Emerald with a gift for pugilism that no-one had yet been able to better, despite his advanced age nudging at the hundred and forty year mark.

"You can't do that Knuckles, you'll have to let them know – remember what happened last time", just for once she timed the punch-line, rather than the actual punch, to perfection, "the 'Dark Legion' might steal it again and then where would we be?"

Rouge hastily clapped her had across her mouth, wings quivering with the effort of holding in the mirth at the armadillo's inflection as just behind her Knuckles glowered at the Chaotix, his ego pricked painfully by the reminder of that particular incident and his subsequent embarrassment of being let in on the hoax. Only after piling into Haven and demanding his father turn over the keys to the armoury, declaring he'd rip Necronopolis apart brick by brick with his bare hands if that was what it would take to recover the kidnapped jewel, had Vector shuffled forwards and carefully peeled off one of the fake bruises he'd liberally adorned himself with, informing the stunned audience that, rather than en route to the secretive base of the Brotherhood's most ancient and bitter rivals on Angel Island, the Master Emerald was actually enjoying a change of scenery, hidden as it was in a large clump of bushes at the back of its shrine. Great had been the mirth and even greater Knuckle's embarrassment at falling for the crocodile's deception, least of all when the story had reached the ears of Athair, his at least half-insane great-grandfather; now every time he visited his ancestral home Knuckles found himself regaled with an awfully-screeched lyrical ballad about himself, titled 'The Rashness of Youth', guaranteed to raise a chuckle or two from any guest he might have been visiting with at the time. _Oh yeah, the 'Legion' might_; the echidna thought fiercely before he thought deep, soothing thoughts to massage away his battered self-pride; _but then again, pretty soon the 'Legion' might just get the comeuppance it's deserved for the better part of a month now!_

"Ah, 'iya guys", Vector cut his greeting short the second he saw Knuckle's thunderous glare, instead sliding his eyes up to the ceiling and attempting to whistle inconspicuously, the corners of his crocodilian mouth upturning as Espio, with a perfectly-timed deadpan tone, walked past and merely glanced at both guardians as he remarked off-handedly,

"Is the shrine safe from anyone who might be after the Emerald?"

"Perfectly"; Knuckles answered without his lips moving, not moving his eyes from Vector's gleefully smirking face as he brushed past where his wife virtually hiccupping with silent hysteria; he only broke his death-glare when he felt something smaller and furrier than he was knock his elbow, "oh, hi Tails; thought you were going to be here a bit later?"

"Got lucky; traffic was conducive to a quick getaway from the C.A", the fox remarked cheerfully before shuddering slightly, "if the same could have been said for the lady at the front desk it would have been perfect".

"Ah say no more, Shadow's already told us enough; did you see him there by the way?" The pilot shook his head, hearing the kettle click behind him,

"He must have been running, never saw quick nor quill of him. Anyway, assuming you've recovered enough to stand up straight?" Pushing off from the wall, Rouge brushed herself down and nodded demurely, her recently pink face only slightly denting the impression of a woman in absolute control of herself as she smirked at her husband one last time; seeing this and forging ahead before the matrimonial boat was rocked too much, Tails finished, "let's get this last brew in; just got one passenger left to go and believe me there's no way I'm flying anywhere else today without a mug of something hot down me".

A few moments later the still air of the Chaotix's home was split by a chunky thud; several china mugs were thrust together gently, the note still echoing in the air as Charmy, a serious note in his voice, spoke for everyone assembled,

"Well Mighty, I know it'll only be for a couple of weeks and we're all grateful that it's not that long a gap, but we'll be missing you like crazy while you're away. All I can say is thank the Lord you were still here when we had to go trimming those mushrooms, even if cleaning out the gribbles afterwards was the mother of all…"

"Believe me no matter how bad it was for you I felt worse", the armadillo replied with feeling, almost choking up the sip of tea she'd taken as part of the toast as the memory of that awful week burned into her mind; Knuckles might have warned them that the massive fungi shed spores like nobody's business as they were hewn down and pared back in readiness for the winter, but what he hadn't mentioned or hadn't know was that they had an unrivalled ability to lodge every conceivable hard-to-reach place a hard-to-reach place could conceivably be. There hadn't been a night in that week Mighty hadn't been dearly wishing Big was around; though Charmy did his best with a wet cloth when she had her shell plates raised there was only so much he could do trying to clean out under her shell, a problem Big was intimately familiar with and now a professional at removing with his natural claws. Rouge nodded in agreement,

"Tell me about it, and that was just with my wings. I don't even want to think what it must have been like with your shell, or your fur", she added, seeing Tails stretch one of his namesakes and recall that the foxboy had indeed pitched in to help clear out the last few mushrooms on the final day of the dreadful week. Espio, having merely ignored most of the problem due to his scales resisting all but the most determined spore attacks, noticed a flicker of red in his vision and, seeing Knuckles return from his slight dalliance with some unfortunate biological necessities, took another drink from his cup before standing up and speaking while he had a chance,

"Luckily that's all over now, but", seeing the chameleon's slender horn begin to traverse to her direction Mighty felt herself begin to get a little uncomfortable; _why's he looking at me, that's usually never a good sign – what's he got up his sleeve...?_; "this isn't quite for you Michelle Armadillo".

The words hung heavy in the crowded kitchen; much like anything cryptic Espio ever said, a faint aura of menace lingered on the air like the silence following an air-raid siren. Glances were swapped, or at least some glances were swapped; those in the know merely kept their apprehensions to themselves as they awaited the words to come from the one they needed to hear speak next. And, a little hesitantly maybe, she eventually complied with the unspoken demand,

"Right, now I'm worried", try as she might to sound humoured Mighty couldn't help but feel a twinge of nerves; team mates they might be but she and Espio had never exactly seen eye to eye, "I just dread to ask but…okay, what's left?" Flicking his eyes to his left, Espio gave a nod and, not wanting to miss one of his very infrequent big moments, Vector stood up with all six or so feet of his frame positively radiating importance and pride,

"Well, been's as it's Christmas soon, an' you're not gonna be 'ere, we thought we'd better get our gears greased t'get ya'present. It's in yer bag; go check the left pocket on the side nearest yer as y'look at it in the lounge".

It wasn't entirely unexpected; after all, Mighty had made no secret of the fact that on the eve of the 24th she expected one of her team mates to check under her bed and then neatly rearrange the small, brightly-coloured parcels they found there under the tree in a realistic manner, but it was still a very pleasant surprise. _Still, this is the Chaotix we're talking about_; trying hard to think of an innocuous way of getting some information without looking like she was prying, Mighty half-stood before pausing, a carefully-constructed calculating look shadowing her features as she looked across the table at the nominated spokesMobian; _right, well there's a decent start_;

"Okay, well thank you all; just a couple of things though?" From the corner of her eye she saw Charmy grin just before he piped up,

"When aren't there?" There was a little general laughter at the bee's impromptu announcement before he became more serious and glanced up at Vector, "but I hope I can guarantee it's something you'll enjoy; if it isn't, please kick Vector's tail rather than mine – he went and brought it, I just came up with the idea".

"Oh is that so?" _Nice one buzz-boy_; two of the three major pieces she'd wanted out of the way, the armadillo swiftly moved in for the kill in getting the third, "and what, may I ask, did your inquisitive nose sniff out for me in the bargain bin?"

"Oi, we've gone a bit more upmarket since then", Vector shot back indignantly, though he quickly mellowed out as he saw the hint of a smile in Mighty's lips and realised she was only pulling his leg, "not much mind. Anyway, don't y'go frettin'; if I 'member right it's sumthing you've been after fer awhile now, an' it'll really 'elp the time fly by on the long journeys, just sit back an' enjoy the ride".

"Okay"; unfortunately for her, and very unfortunately for someone else as well though that would only be revealed later, Mighty kept her eyes on the crocodile as she slowly stood up and made for the door, missing completely the less-than-completely honest body language on show in the cheap seats. Now blinking for a second, trying to break down her reptilian friend's inscrutable mask but coming up with nothing but blanks, the armadillo crossed the kitchen floor and, after taking just a second longer to try and glean some kind of information out of the crocodile, finally conceded defeat and slipped into the hallway.

XXX

_An' another job well done_; as the door clicked shut Vector allowed himself the luxury of leaning back in his chair for a long stretch, grinning at his own cunning even as he felt rather than saw all attention turn to him – Charmy had neatly fingered him as the buyer of this mysterious gift and therefore it was only right he was suddenly in the middle of a blizzard of sudden questions,

"Okay Vec", oddly enough Espio's quiet, always serious tones cut through the general hubbub better than even the very loudest shout, "what was it you acquired with the money we loaned you?" Grin stretching ever wider, the croc waved a finger, hushing them all,

"Ah ah, that'd be tellin', anyway, in sec you'll be able t'…" He never finished that sentence as there was a sudden loud slam form very close by, the impact all but rattling dust from the cupboard tops. As everyone reflexively flinched at the noise Tails was only just quick enough to fling himself aside, the kitchen door almost flattening him as it was slammed violently back on its hinges,

"What the…?" Alarmed at his sudden brush with the reaper's scythe, the fox made to ask but, in the next second it was a redundant question – standing in the doorway it was immediately obvious 'what?'

The strangest thing of all was that she didn't look angry; rather than a scowl or, even worse, a Look, Mighty appeared to be having to fight to stop herself laughing, though from the rest of her posture it was immediately obvious this was no laughing matter to the armadillo. Lips peeling back to reveal bared teeth as she raised her helmeted head, one finger stabbed forwards and one of the shocked congregation recoiled as though impaled,

"You", all eyes fell to Vector, the crocodile's jaw working but no sound coming out as shock and terror in equal parts combined to paralyse his vocal chords, "two seconds to explain yourself, then I rip your tail off and leather you to death with it".

"Wha, wha…", for once in his life stuck without anything even remotely constructive to say, Vector switched to autopilot and his startled brain thrust the first words it could come up with into his gabbling, frantic mouth, "you don't like the covering?"

For a second it seemed disaster had been averted; Mighty sagged against the doorframe, clutching at it as she appeared to lose her grip on her hysteria; Vector dared breathe again for a second as a few strangled snorts could be heard from the kitchen door, then the armadillo's head shot up and his air was robbed from him.

"Wrong covering", she smiled, suddenly the expression dangerous and on the verge of demented rather than welcome, "you're dead". Without another word she stormed forwards, an irresistible force that nothing could, or indeed even wanted to stand in the way of. Everyone flattened themselves against the nearest wall except for Charmy, who bounded from floor to the top of the cooker without beating his wings once; only Vector seemed stunned beyond movement until it was way, way too late. One of Mighty's massive hands slammed into the table, threatening to crack the wooden top clean in two for a second before it rose again, leaving what looked to be a brightly coloured paper bag in its wake as it sprang upwards and seized the crocodile by the throat. Without even glancing at him Mighty tugged; even though he was a good two feet taller than she was, there was no way Vector could put up any sort of resistance to her titanic strength and was dragged off his seat onto the floor; perhaps his only saving grace was the fact that due to her hand span she'd grabbed his neck rather than his throat and, freed slightly from that crushing grip, he was able to speak a little.

"Whaaaa…", it was a choked gargle of a voice as he thrashed around, seeing that the armadillo was dragging him somewhere and almost certain he wasn't going to like what would happen when they arrived, "I doooonnnn'tttt…"

"No, you don't", Mighty growled, silencing him with a vicious shake and not even seeing as she nearly shoulder-barged Rouge through the draining board, the bat having to exercise every muscle in her body to breathe in enough to let both her and the squirming, wriggling reptile she'd captured squeeze past. In the space of seconds she'd made it through the kitchen door, "but believe you me in a couple of minutes you're going to!" Vector grabbed onto the frame for a split-second before being forced to let go or have his arm dislocated, there were a couple more thumps and half-mad howls of fear before a final, shattering slam cut them off for good.

Like survivors blinking in the daylight as they crawled from the wreckage of a city flattened by a force of nature, the remainder of the Chaotix, the pair of guardians and Tails slowly peeled themselves off the walls and dropped off the high ledges that had allowed them to safely avoid being run over by the rampaging armadillo. No-one spoke for a moment, the shock was too great; trying to sift through the scattered pieces only obfuscated the final image more; what had just happened was so far removed from the ordinary, so out of the bath-tub for both Mighty and Vector, who got along like a house on fire under most normal circumstances, that it was actually Espio's logical and ordered mind, rather than a creative, inventive one, that set the ball rolling for an explanation,

"Could someone please explain what just happened in any way, shape or form?"

"In a word, no", Tails replied, looking shell-shocked as Rouge leaned on his shoulder for a second, having developed cramp in her stomach from tensing up so much as she'd sought to avoid being bulldozed by her friend.

"Must be something…" as he descended, Charmy paused in his speech to wince as a half-drowned cry of agony reached the ears of all listening, though no-one was even contemplating trying a rescue mission with the mood Mighty was in, "…something to do with this?" Eyeing up the package with a decidedly wary eye, the bee nevertheless approached it cautiously as he heard Knuckles speak up behind him,

"And what did she mean, don't like the covering? Charm, what you got?" Feeling all eyes on him, the youngest of the Chaotix reached with a couple of trembling fingers and slowly grasped the very corner of the bag, dragging it towards him across the table towards him. Everyone tried to crane their necks to get a look-in as, even more slowly than that, he timidly poked a finger into the bag itself and slowly raised the top half by fractional degrees, allowing him a glimpse of the contents.

"Any idea…?" Rouge was suddenly cut off as with a quick snap Charmy immediately crushed the entrance he'd created down; Espio and Tails, who were opposite him, were the first to get a decent look at his new expression and, judging from his pin-prick pupils and the way his antenna were sticking straight up into the air, they guessed it was nothing pretty as he hastily gathered the mystery item into himself,

"Oh Vec", his voice was a ghostly whisper as he collapsed into the nearest chair, looking as though he was about to pass out as he repeated again, "oh _Vector!_" His shoulders started to shake as one hand came up to cover his face, everyone watching on at the silent pantomime before Rouge, crossing her fingers for luck, dared to press him on the matter,

"Charm, what is it?" The bee didn't look up, mumbling into his palm as he compressed his hand into his face even harder as though trying to rip the vision of what he'd just seen from out of his retina; Tails ears twitched and he frowned – that made no sense at all,

"Pack of cigs? Mighty doesn't smoke".

"Not cigs", Charmy moaned, dragging his hand partway down his face, letting his words flow a little more clearly at the same time as show them all the warped grin on his face, "six".

"Pack of…oh. _Oh!_" Finally putting all the pieces together Rouge's face went as white as her fur, though curiously she too was having trouble looking properly horror-struck by the revelation, almost doubling over as she virtually collapsed against the nearest chair as though socked one in the guts, "and he…as a present!"

"And the rest", Espio said, even his formidable mental resolve temporarily breached by the stark facts as Knuckles leant down to whisper a couple of words into Tails' ears, the younger Mobian looking a little bewildered by what was going on – as he promptly went crimson and slapped both hands over his face, the chameleon guessed he was now in with the gist of things, "enjoy the ride, been after for a while; I never thought he'd be that stupid".

"Or inconsiderate", Charmy added, looking at the bag in front of him disgustedly, "well I'm not stepping in to save him; he brought this on himself".

"Too right; I'm only grateful Big's not here", Tails agreed; _imagine never living down the shame, literally in his case_; "if anything whatever Mighty does to him's a mercy as long as he survives it".

"Agreed", Knuckles nodded sagely, ignoring another pain-wracked yelp as he leaned past Rouge to the kettle, 'accidentally' brushing against her as he did so, "another cup anyone?"

XXX

Considering their future conversation was backed by a choir of agonised cries that managed to percolate even two thick wooden doors, the remaining Mobians managed to hold a remarkably civilised conversation; the topics were many and varied and the atmosphere generally pretty relaxed as all present simply took a few minutes out of the hectic world for a little quiet time. In fact, when the mood was broken by a crisp, cutting command as the kitchen door opened again, rather than cower in outright terror that what had happened not ten minutes ago would be repeated everyone instead looked around in genial annoyance that the mood had been so abruptly broken,

"Tails", the fox nodded to signify that further speech was unnecessary but, just in case there was any lingering doubt at all, Mighty informed them all anyway, "let's get a roll on".

"Okay", quickly swallowing the lukewarm remains on his tea, the fox stood up; for a moment his eyes fell to the brightly-coloured bag still on the table and it looked like he might reach for it – thankfully all 300 points of his IQ came through just in time to stop him committing that kind of blunder, especially with the mood Mighty was in. Instead he quickly scooted around the table, whispering his goodbyes as he went with the armadillo's eyes on him the whole time; only as he drew level with the door did he look up at her and say, perfectly seriously,

"I'm not going to say anything". Her beady eyes fixed on him for a moment more before, with a curt nod, Mighty turned around to pick up her luggage and headed for the hallway, talking over her shoulder as she did so,

"Intelligent, wise and smart – I like it".

"Huh – there's a difference?" The remaining quartet still in the kitchen listened in distractedly as the voices floated away towards the front door, Mighty explaining her unusual choice of words,

"Intelligent means you know a lot of stuff, wisdom means you know a lot of stuff and you also know how to apply what you know to everyday life", there was a quick, gruff chuckle before the armadillo finished, followed by the distinctive sound of zip being drawn up in time with her voice, "and being smart knows you know when to keep your mouth shut". The fox laughed as the front door was opened, a blast of cold air running down the length of the hallway and making Espio especially shiver slightly,

"One of the bad habits I managed to avoid picking up from Sonic".

"Really? Shame he passed his inability to admit he's got the hots for someone onto you".

"Now you listen here Mich…" Sadly for all the listeners, at this point the front door swung back to a closed position and none of them, not even Rouge, were able to decipher anything more.

XXX

Everything _ached!_

His ribs were complaining, his knees were in protest and his shoulder were seriously considering their options when it came to taking industrial action; heck, even the tiny sphincters in his nostrils were threatening to take the rest of him to court for every penny he'd ever even considered owning every time another reluctant breath forced them to dilate. Vector told them all to take a ticket and get in the queue; trying his hardest to stifle a groan brimming with the merest sliver of mortification he was feeling at the moment, the crocodile attempted to sit up but had to give up, forced down by the screams from his stomach muscles. He knew he should be moving, or at least be trying to move in some way, shape or form, otherwise he was going to cramp up and that would be really bad news but he just couldn't, the pain was too great. _She did an absolute number on me_; he managed to feebly twitch his right hand, an improvement in a way as all he'd been able to feel from back there recently had been a continual buzz of pins and needles; _but why? I had the bloody receipt for Christ's sake, if she didn't like it that much she could have got a refund…_;

"Oh, you're still alive then?" For a second he cringed, fearing it was the armadillo returned to finish what it seemed she had started; only after a second or reconsideration did he finally manage to convince his eyelids to open again, recognising the voice was too high-pitched to be Mighty's. He couldn't see who it was though; lying in his front, the voice was behind him and he didn't even want to _think_ about trying to twist his head around – with the force it had recently been made to endure, it might prove the final straw to his neck muscles. Intercostals grating, Vector summoned a great force of will and drew in a deep breath, hoping his words would be audible through his parched throat and staining vocal chords, already worn out by yelling so long and loud,

"Who…that you batgirl?" He waited for an answer and then virtually levitated from the floor, new pain rushing around his body like an electric charge as something pressed down hard on the tip of his already-abused tail. Fortunately, though with his mind exploded upwards through the stratosphere by the sheer agony the crocodile didn't realise it, there had been a plus side to his latest lesson in torture; spasming as he had been, Vector landed on his back this time and was able to look upwards. Though the picture was blurry at first, when he blinked away the tears of agony he was able to observe all the Mobians he'd seen what felt like a lifetime of hell ago were present, though thankfully Mighty was nowhere to be seen. _Ah, at last_; filled with the blind delusion of the supposedly-released, the head of the Chaotix rejoiced for a brief instant; _friends come to save me – they must just have been a bit nervy, plucking up their courage before pulling her off me…_; only now did the other, slightly more subtle features become apparent – the grim set of his friend's mouths, for instance, or the folded arms that simply radiated displeasure at him rather than pity for his plight. For some reason, rather than coming to his rescue, the others had simply let Mighty nearly rip him limb from limb;_…because they think I did something – what have I done wrong?_

XXX

Strangely enough no-one had stepped in as Rouge stepped down on the top of the crocodile's tail with the toe of her boot; event he sight of Vector flailing around uselessly on the floor did nothing to avail the sense of pity of the congregation. As the largest Mobian present slowly started to relax again Rouge, who'd been examining the fingernails of her glove in the meantime, glanced down at him disdainfully as she spoke acidly,

"You know I hate that name Vector"; she had meant to keep it completely neutral but, confronted with the frontal view of someone who, in her heart of hearts, she had a bit of a soft spot for, she couldn't help but grudgingly enquire, "what did she do to you?" There was a bit of a pause and she was seriously weighing up the pros and cons of administering a little encouragement to the sore crocodile before his voice, grating and filled with pain, floated upwards to her,

"Tha, that joint locking-up kata, or wh'ever it was you were teachin' her; the 'ole damn lot, one by one…"

"Oh come here, and brace yourself", bad-temperedly shouldering his way past Rouge, Espio stooped and stood a second later, one of his arms each curled around Vector's calves as he strategically placed on foot in his larger friend's gut, "this going to hurt; Rouge cover your ears".

"Wait", trying to squint upwards and thrash free at the same time, Vector didn't much like the look of what was going on here – from his perspective it looked like the chameleon was going to attempt something not too dissimilar to what Mighty had been laying down on him in the not very distant past, "what' yer plan Esp; whaddya…?" His query came too late; with one move, Espio pressed down with his foot and arched his back backwards, forcing the crocodile into yet another stretch that his set his muscles screaming in protest.

A split-second later, Vector joined in their symphony of excruciation.

XXX

_It might have been for good reasons needle-nose_; he gave a sharp slap on his shoulder as grumblings of pains reached his brain from the bending area – immediately Espio ceased the pressure he was applying and began to twist his left arm in a different manner; _but I'm gonna get you for making me squeal like a girl like that_;

"Why'd you do it you great green lunkhead", Charmy demanded again, glaring up at the chair where they'd eventually dragged Vector up into, "of all the times, and near Christmas as well – even I didn't, or wouldn't have…?"

"While we're on this subject", reminded by the bee's question of one that had evaded his mind for quite some time now, the crocodile cut him off, "what the hell is it I'm supposed to'a done?"

"Oh come off it"; Vector jerked to the left, and not just because of the sudden jerk Espio had given his wrist – the fact that the chameleon of all Mobians clearly thought he was in the wrong meant a lot as usually he didn't deign to get involved in anything to do with other people, "you know very well what that present you left meant, and all those 'innocent' comments you made prior to announcing it didn't help much".

"Those comments were as innocent as I am", the crocodile announced; _come on, I'm, I'm telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but…surely you've gotta believe me_; but it didn't appear to be so as on every face in the room was at best unconvinced scepticism and at worst stony-faced disbelief, "I mean it, I dunno what just happened, in fact you pr'bly know more about what's going on than I do".

"You know", after a couple of seconds pause, Knuckles' voice crept tremulously forwards into the silence, "I think he might be telling the truth…"

"And that's why I do thinking in our relationship; he's bluffing Knucklehead", Rouge said with a laugh at her husband's dyed in the wool gullible streak, "he's guilty…"

"I'm not; look, I dunno what Mighty found in that pocket but I'm sure it weren't what I left there for'er – ah brought 'er a copy o' the next in that trilogy she's readin', can't 'member the title", he paused in his explanation just long enough to give Espio another warning tap before carrying on, undeterred and in fact a little encouraged by the fact that he now appeared to be getting somewhere towards proving his innocence with at least one of his audience, "I even kept the receipt, 'case she wanted t'change the cover o' the book, tha's what I meant by coverin'…"

"Vector", Knuckles stood up at this, mind apparently made up at this point, "I believe you".

"Thank you", grateful beyond all words that he at last had an ally, the reptile would have followed up had Knuckles not carried on, defying the general mood of the room and, in particular, his better half's reproachful look,

"I know you'd never do that to Mighty, you two get on so well", at this point Espio demonstrated his talent for mind-reading; seeing that the crocodile was just about to ask, he leaned over and whispered a couple of words into his team mate's virtually-undetectable ear; _he, he is telling the truth!_ His reaction, the absolutely seamless transition of expression from curiosity to shock would have been utterly impossible for a guilty party to fake that convincingly – though it ran against the grain of all the facts he had before him, Espio put his trust in his ninjitsu training in the art of reading faces and sidled inconspicuously to Knuckles' point of view on the subject.

"Vector", the echidna in question pointed to where the still-flabbergasted crocodile sat slumped on the chair they'd all levered him into, speaking as he did so, "you're not above joking about but what just happened there was nasty; you're just not that kind of Mobian".

"Too right", with a shake of his head Vector brought some life back into his shock-deadened voice, "I'd never even try sommat like that, not to Might of all Mobians".

"Exactly; Vec, no matter what these others say", striding over and turning around, indicating where Rouge and Charmy still sat looking a little less than completely convinced with one hand at the same time as placing his other gently on his larger friend's tenderised shoulder, Knuckles finished saying his piece, "I'm almost certain, no, more than that, I'm utterly convinced that you didn't place any kind of sexual protection in your close friend's travel bag…"

"Good; thank you, and I mean that Knuckles"; _man, too much more of this and I'm gonna choke up_; Vector had to sniff back tears as he realised how much the echidna was going out on a limb to support him here, "it's at time like these a Mobian needs his true friends most of all".

"…because I know for a fact I put them there myself".

XXX

"When Mighty touches down at Mystic Ruins", Knuckles continued quickly into the shell-shocked pause – this was his one chance to explain everything and land a punch absolutely no-one, least of all the one it had been aimed at, had seen coming, "she will receive a text message from me telling her to look in the right pocket of her travel bag, where she'll find the book you brought her, the title's Rivals, by the way", he said, grinning down at Vector's horror-struck expression and trying to tot up if it would be worth reaching for his camera-phone or not. _Nah, I'm not quite that cruel, yet_; it was as he was having a secret snigger at this line of thought that the first rumblings of discontent reached his ears; Charmy, white-faced and white-knuckled, tried to speak,

"You, you put…you tricked Mighty…"

"Oh no, not Mighty, I tricked Vector", patting the crocodile on the shoulder once more before springing away towards the door, "told you I'd get you back for hiding the Master Emerald from me didn't I scaly?"

A second later, tearing out the door with half the Chaotix and his enraged wife hot on his heels, Knuckles pounded towards the Chaotix's basement teleporter, cackling out loud in vindicated glee as from the sitting room the volcano that had been stocking up on indignation and pain finally exploded in full volume and promise,

"YOU'RE DEAD FURREEOOOOWWW!" Trying to throw himself upright had only resulted in all the crocodile's tender regions seizing up and sending him crashing back to the chair, nearly squashing Espio as the chameleon had launched himself over the seat in a desperate grab at the fleeing guardian. Knowing he couldn't pursue in his current, battered condition, Vector nevertheless swore at the top of his lungs a dread promise, choking off his words only when he heard the characteristic zipping noise of the teleporter going off in the basement,

"I swear I'm gonna make Kneecaps an only child – you betta run Knucks", smoke licked up from the corner of his lips and raging as much as his muscles would let him, Vector roared in impotent fury, "the second I see you again, you're gonna get roasted!"

N/A: Oh dear – bad Knuckles! Funny maybe, but bad! Let me know if you figured out what was going to happen before it did, and if you're not sure what was actually in that little bag, you're too young to be reading a T-rated fic!


	4. Chapter 4 Nights Together, Nights Apart

Chapter 4 – Night Together, Night Apart

A/N: Well then, nasty Knuckles got away with it last chapter – will his lucky streak continue or will someone stand up and make him pay for his crimes? Read on to find out, but first of all a shout out to the reviewer of the last chapter:

BC – Yeah fluff is all well and good but hopefully this chapter's a bit deeper, though still in a good way. Let me know if you're still enjoying it and thanks for the review as always.

With a stretch Mighty very happily stood up, rolling on the balls of her feet as the Tornado rolled to a gentle stop on the runway of Mystic Ruins; though the cockpit of Tails' specially modified transmogrifying vehicle could easily seat two, the armadillo had been unable to even contemplate the idea of stepping back into the front seat since the night Tails, irked by her lampooning his chronic infatuation with Cream Rabbit, had started transforming the Tornado into its jeep mode even before the plane mode had touched down. The mid-air shape switch, combined with the armadillo's bowel-loosening certainty that she was going to end her days like a run of strawberry jam smeared over the tarmac of the runway, had shattered her nerves completely and deepened her disdain towards air travel. _Bloody fox_; recalling that image for a fleeting second before banishing such memories with a shudder, her acidic glare towards where the internal speakers of the Tornado were now crackling away merrily was neutralised somewhat by the realisation of what had come next in the day; _though I did get him back in the end – three hours with Sonic knowing you've paid for something like the ALT, priceless_. Mighty sighed softly, remembering the phone call she'd made to Sonic to tip him off about that little slip of proof of young love being in the air before a burst of static jolted her from her reverie and she listened into the instructions issuing from the front of the plane,

"Okay Mighty, if you could please hop off for a minute with your gear, I'll switch this baby around and get you a ride towards the swampland, sound okay? And before you think about arguing", Mighty snapped her open mouth shut as she realised the fox had somehow read her mind, "I'm driving you there because as far as I know you've got to catch your train sometime tomorrow and knowing your luck with getting places…well, need I say more?"

"Not if you know what's good for you", the armadillo riposted as she hefted her luggage with one hand and headed towards the chillier air now infiltrating the main cabin of the Tornado, the pneumatic hiss of the boarding ramp being lowered also letting her know where to go. Blinking as she emerged into the bright sunshine, the sun still high in the sky despite the lateness of the season, Mighty swiftly descended the boarding ramp and turned to give a thumbs-up towards the cockpit; though it was difficult to see through the specially-hardened glass surrounding the controls, she was reasonably sure she saw the gesture returned before with a mechanical grinding and squeals of lubricated protest, the plane she could see began to reform itself. The wings were pulled back into the main body and tucked away, the wheels that together made up half the landing gear were pulled horizontally apart in tandem with the entire chassis being redeployed in a single, fluid movement. In the space of seconds, the plane had vanished completely; the only evidence that remained of the aircraft that had stood in the space now occupied by a squat, powerful jeep was the identical paint scheme both machines sported. As always impressed by this sight, the armadillo stood upright and approached the car as the hissing and clanking noises began to die down, safe to approach now the transformation was complete. Seeing her coming, Tails gave a wave before starting suddenly, reaching down and pressing a button next to him; a sudden pop rent the air as the fox wound down his window,

"Boot's open Mighty, just drop you bags inside and we'll get rolling".

"Yes, rolling", the armadillo's voice drifted to him at the front of the car as Tails tapped the rim of his window, her next comment drawing a smile from him as he shook his head; _she's never going to let that one drop is she?_; "a heck of a lot more pleasant than rolling out I can assure you".

"Oh come on", the foxboy mechanic drawled appealingly as he heard the boot slammed down, "it wasn't as bad as all that surely?" There was no immediate answer; it was only when the passenger door was opened and Mighty swung herself inside that she deigned to throw him a disgusted glance as she buckled herself in, Tails doing likewise as he fought not to snigger,

"No of course it wasn't, it really was a barrel of laughs, and if you believe that please feel free to try it out with me again sometime, preferably after you sign the waiver saying that in the event of you being found drowned in the Tornado's petrol tank, no-one's going to come knocking at my door. We got a deal on that?"

"I think I get the message", the fox chuckled as his seatbelt clicked into its holster before a thought registered with him and he paused as he groped for the keys to the ignition, "but, er, I wouldn't fit in the Tornado's petrol tank, even I'm not that slim".

"You want to bet on that one?" For a second Tails was tempted to take her up on that offer but such an idea lasted only until the armadillo turned to face him once more; the deadly glint in her eye was more than enough to get the engineers' finely honed danger sense tingling and he wisely let the matter drop, instead firing up the Tornado's engine and swinging his pride and joy around, pointing the nose towards the horizon and taking off, winging his way towards where the first stop on Mighty's journey awaited her with open arms.

XXX

At about the halfway point of the drive, which was itself a more than pleasant affair as the weather was positively balmy for the time of year, so much so that Tails was able to open his window a crack without causing too much of a chill; _ah, that's better – nothing like a nice breeze between the ears when you're driving_; that Mighty happened to remember to do something. Idly reaching down, she felt around one of the pockets of her trousers and, feeling the rough shape of the item she was looking for, she jabbed at the spot she guessed the on button was located on. _Bingo_; with a welcoming trill, her mobile activated and hummed in her pocket for a minute, the last chance anyone would have to connect with her until at least tomorrow evening as there was absolutely no reception in the area where Big had made his home. Tails glanced around at the noise but as he saw his passenger clench a fist and then extend her pinkie and thumb he relaxed again, or at least he did until the appliance beeped again, a couple of high notes making both Mobians prick their ears.

"Weird, wonder who's after me now", Mighty commented off-handedly as she delved into her clothing, fishing for the mobile as Tails shrugged at the same time as keeping his eyes on the road,

"Probably someone like Sonic, saying goodbye for Christmas; it's okay that I let him know you were going right?" Luckily Mighty was absorbed in the task of getting her phone to display the text message she had received to notice how the tip of his tongue flitted across his lips for a second, relieved at his close shave with letting the truth slip so close to the eventual goal. Just to be on the safe side though, he forced a chortle and winked at her from the corner of his eye, "you never know, it might be Vector trying to apologise". Mighty snarled low in her throat,

"And if he thinks he can do that with something like a text message he's got another thing coming, namely my right hook. Anyway, let's see…" Finally prising the telephone free, the armadillo flicked a couple of buttons, trying to see who'd texted her at this late hour; Tails, not wanting to intrude on what could well be a private message and not particularly bothered about the contents anyway, kept his eyes fixed on their eventual destination. At least, he did until the vile oath from the side of him almost made him jump in alarm at its venom,

"I'm gonna kill him, the second I get back"; _don't say a word, do not say a bleeding word, it might well be more than your life's worth_; just for once Tails took the pro-offered course of action supplied by his brain without reasoning it through his fantastically attuned mind and froze in the driver's seat, barely even daring to flit his eyes sideways as Mighty scowled menacingly at the glow emanating from the front of her mobile, her hand threatening to crush the appliance with gigantic strength before she instead thrust it back into her pocket, "sorry babe but your man's a goner when I get my hands on him".

"Umm, I might have missed something…?"

"Too right you missed something", Mighty grated flatly, not even looking at the driver as she sat back in her seat, chin on her clenched fist as she glowered menacingly, "not only did he humiliate me just now, he made sure I picked on the wrong person when it came to laying the proverbial smack-down". _Nope, sorry, still lost_; despite his very quickest thinking Tails couldn't break the puzzle and had to shake his head; Mighty sighed as he hand flowed up her face, coming to rest at her forehead and kneading it with her fingertips,

"It wasn't Vec who put those, er…"

"Yeah, them", Tails nipped in quickly, sparing the armadillo the indignity of having to go all the way through that recent red-cheeked hell of a memory; she gave a small, split-second smile in answer before finishing,

"…in my bag, it was Knuckles"; _what!_; Tails suddenly forgot the road for a moment, turning in his seat as he fought to nail this idea through his skull and into the realms of probability, "he was still a bit sore from when Vec hid the Emerald, remember what Charmy told you, last time you were up – the Legion?"

"Oh yeah – heh, that was a good trick", the fox sniggered a little at the memory before turning serious again, "but, but why did he get you for it?"

"He didn't", Mighty explained, reasoning the devious echidna's train of thought and wondering if there had been any point along the track she might have been able to derail it earlier, "he got me to pound Vector for him by making me think it was Vector who'd…you know – I was so mad I didn't think to check all through my bag and find the real present ol' TGG left for me; according to the message he just sent it's in the right pocket, not the left".

"Slippery little…the old switcheroo; never thought he had it in him to even see through a bit of trickery, never mind pull one off himself", Tails breathed out loud in wonderment before chuckling, "heh, Sonic's going to have a fit when he hears about this, er, without the, um, unpleasant details that is". _Took the words right out of my mouth – they were in there with your foot_; the fox only breathed again when Mighty jerked her gaze away from him after a long, long second of Looking and he gave himself a pat on the back for clambering out of the hole he'd just dug for himself; _I'll have to be careful about what I say now I think about it – the last thing that needs to happen is that this comes blurting out some time this evening because I never let everyone else know what the score is!_

XXX

He'd heard her coming for the past few minutes, each crunch of leaves underfoot sending his heart rate fluttering a little faster, each tiny splish of boots into water sending a cascade of sweat down from his palms into his gloves; Big didn't look around, didn't dare to for two reasons. Firstly he knew that if he did and she hadn't yet arrived, he wouldn't be able to drag his eyes away and every second after that would stretch into an eternity of agonised longing for Mighty to appear, the second reason being that his float had been knocked a couple of times over the last couple of glances he'd spared it. _Come on now, focus_; his hand twitched as the tiny red buoy marking the position of his bait was knocked again, something just below the surface swimming past the small berry he'd spiked on the end of his hook, scenting it, deciding if it was good to eat; _I've not got a lot in the larder right now – gotta land something before I have to call it a night because I'm getting sick of fish stew!_ His instincts quivered certain they wouldn't be denied much longer; it seemed almost pre-ordained that at the precise second his float dived for the bottom of the lake, there was a shout from behind him,

"Hey Big guy…" Fortunately for both the cat's relationship and his prospects of dinner for the night, he managed to separate his instincts and his manners in time; as his body twisted violently to the right, his arms exacerbating the movement and striking at whatever was biting, he looked over his shoulder and, after a brief moment of straining with the movement of making sure the snared game didn't start stripping line from his reel, smiled a greeting at the armadillo stood towards the back of the stream bank,

"Morning Might"; _aww, she looks adorable when she's flustered_; the cat managed to keep a chuckle out of his voice as he realised the armadillo probably thought she'd made him miss his chance, "you know that's not what they mean when they're going on about fly-fishing right?"

"Hmm? Ah, right", shaking herself and recollecting her scattered thoughts, all plans for a devastatingly witty first line blown clean from her mind by the sight of her boyfriend rearing back as thought frightened half to death by her sudden call, Mighty snapped her shocked lips shut and, seeing the way his fingers were pinched on the reel, she gave her own answering sly smirk and nodded, "just like that's not what they mean when they say drop a line?"

"Something like that"; as the cat devoted his attention to the struggle in front of him, expertly guiding the struggling prey towards the bank with practised and strategic jerks of his rod and turns of his reel, Mighty came to stand alongside him, watching the battle unfold. Even to someone as inexperienced as she was in the field of fishing it was a one-sided struggle; the fish, whatever species it happened to be, was being easily out-muscled and out-manoeuvred by the fisherMobian who'd tricked it into biting – it was no more than thirty seconds after he'd first snared his prey that Big had hauled it from the water, holding it up before him before shaking his head, wistfully annoyed at such a tiddler occupying his time. Mighty on the other hand saw the funny side,

"Hmm, reckon that'd do a course at least, maybe one and a half at a push – definitely got some meat on it"; Big merely snorted, gripping the squirming fish softly with his free hand as the other held the rod steady,

"Bah you could probably spit more than it weighs, not worth the bother of cooking; all right buddy", skilfully teasing the hook from the side of the fish's lip with one finger, the cat stooped to lower it into the water, slowly releasing his constricting grip increments at a time until the tiny water-dweller slipped free like a bar of soap, "catch you later".

"You old softy", Mighty folded her arms as she watched the little bow-waves the vanishing fish left behind disperse across the surface of the softly babbling brook, Big glancing up as he washed his glove in the water's surface, the slime of his recent prey slipping clear after being loosened by the touch of the water, "would have added a bit of body to a nice fish stew that".

"I am not having any more fish stew this side of Christmas", Big told her forcefully, emphasising his point with a vehement shake of his head that made his ears flap, "nothing against the dish but it gets really old after, I don't know, two or three weeks". Mighty laughed again and slipped her bag from her shoulders, unzipping and flipping the top compartment as Big looked on in evident interest; her hands dived beneath the lip of her luggage before reappearing triumphant, Mighty grinning from ear to ear as she saw the effect of her purchases on Big's face,

"Just as well I brought something to refresh your palette then isn't it? How lucky are you?" _I love custard creams_; almost dreamily Big's hazel eyes drifted from the bright yellow packaging to the carefully-wrapped parcel of greenery the armadillo held aloft in her other hand; _and nothing beats a sprig of parsley or three to bring out the real flavour of any fish – Mighty, you are a complete life-saver_;

"Have I told you I love you lately?"

"Well, now and then", the cat spread his arms apart and Mighty dropped all pretence of coyness, "but you can always tell me again". Stepping forwards, she put a bit of a hop into her last step to land squarely in the cat's broad chest, "but I can always do with a reminder".

"Fine"; she shivered as his breath tickled her ear sensuously, the organ already stimulated by the sound of his deep bass purring; _whatever you say next…_; she'd never be able to throw her arms around him they way he could her, she gave it her best effort, "I love you Michelle"; _…I second it right back at you_.

XXX

"Hey"; _what? Ah, yes?_; stooping once more, Big gently lowered his girlfriend back to the floor, careful not to risk accidentally setting her down on her own luggage as Mighty rubbed her brow self-consciously before pointing at where his rod had fallen to the floor, discarded without a second thought as he'd greeted, "reckon a bit of beginner's luck might turn the tide here; I take it you're not having much success?"

"And you'd be right; I've been taking it on the chin for ages now – always the same in winter", the cat sighed as he poked a toe under his recently-carved rod and flipped it up, catching it with his paw in a single, well-practised move, "everything that doesn't migrate hibernates, and everything that doesn't hibernate loses its appetite".

"Everything except you?" Fighting to keep a smile from smothering his face, the cat glanced at where Mighty was smirking with a pseudo-scathing glint in his eye,

"Are you insinuating that I'm portly?"

"No", the armadillo replied in a long, low note before chuckling, pointing at his unavoidable waistline as proof of her observations, "you do a pretty good job of proving that point on your own".

"Fair enough I suppose; come on the only way I was ever going to break into the fashion industry was literally, breaking into it".

"You and me both", the armadillo agreed, reaching around her back to tap her shell in annoyance, "for some reason designers never seem to take natural design flaws like this into consideration when they're dressing up their catwalk models. The only way you'd get me into one of those frocks was if you ran me through a mangle before hand".

"Forget the mangle, fetch the ruddy industrial press; for me I meant, for me", Big added hastily as Mighty glared up at his addition to the conversation; though honestly he had been poking fun at himself that time, the cat thought that it would still be a prudent time to change the subject and offered his rod forwards as a peace offering, "anyway, talking's nice but dinner's still not on the table yet, and try as I might I just never seem to be able to eat my words".

"Shame, you'd never have to fish again if you could"; _ouch – okay, we'll call that one even_; all he could do was grin and take it as Mighty landed that stinging rebuke in payment for his earlier slip of the tongue, "still, I've never cottoned onto that trick either; now, am I doing this right – please remind me?"

_Right_; mentally running through the checklist she'd drilled into her head after months of watching the cat perform this most elementary of fishing manoeuvres, the armadillo slowly and carefully wound up the slack line until the base of the float was almost catching in the first eye of the rod itself; _slack's gone, now flick the reel to cast_; she did so with the thumb, hearing the click as she glanced over her shoulder, making sure Big got himself clear before she began to raise the rod over her head; _make sure there's nothing behind you, don't go too hard and…_; she whipped her arm forwards, hearing the frantic whirring in front of her as the reel played out line, the float arcing away in mid-air in response to the force of her cast. For a second fear spiked her heart – had she overdone the cast in error, but no, the dagger was withdrawn quickly as the entire assembly splashed down in almost the exact centre of the rushing stream. Quickly whipping her hand down to reel in any slack line before the current could drag the float away, Mighty kept her eyes on the landing point of the float, stopping her motion the second the vermillion tip of the marker was tugged towards her; _perfect, a damn near perfect cast_. Letting out a breath as she reassured herself that had gone according to plan, the armadillo looked over her shoulder to see Big watching on appreciatively,

"So", she gave another small pull on the rod, the float in the stream responding almost instantly to her application of force, "how's that for a cast and a half?"

"Very good", Big began, wanting to offer as much praise as he was able to before he had to highlight the one crucial area where she'd gone wrong, "got rid of the slack and not a hitch in the actual cast, but", he hesitated just for a second, quailed as Mighty looked around challengingly, daring him to criticise, "I doubt you'll catch much".

"Why's that then? As far as I can tell the hook's in the right place for something to have a nibble at it".

"It is, but I've yet to actually find a breed of fish that'll willingly bite itself onto a hook", Big said heavily, sighing as Mighty glanced at him again, this time a little more concerned at his tone of voice, "you forgot to put any bait on the end of the line".

There was absolute silence for a brief second before, with a series of agonised clicks, the reel began to turn once more, this time dragging the line in hand over fist as Mighty merely pursed her lips, annoyed with herself as she realised that yes, she had neglected that very important detail to do with the art of catching fish from land. Sighing as she raised the rod and dragged the hook into view, the unblemished steel of the metal glinting in even this weak winter sunlight, Mighty carefully pirouetted the rod around to where Big had bent down to pick something up from the ground; a second after he'd carefully reached over and slipped something on the end of the line, Mighty repeated her earlier movements, a little proud despite her earlier howler that she'd nevertheless managed to nail two excellent casts in quick succession. Nor was she the only one to think so,

"Now that's what I call getting the hook in the right place for something to nibble on", Big affirmed with a nod, his practised eye easily catching the bright tip of his float amid the background of still blue-grey water, "you've come on a long way".

"Ah, it's only two casts; not much compared to what, two-thousand from you?"

"Don't knock yourself Mich – two casts is still a fair achievement", the cat said philosophically as he sat down on the mossy bank, Mighty doing likewise onto the top of her travel bag to make herself more comfortable, "more than Tails ever managed anyway". The armadillo chuckled and glanced over at where the cat was now taking his repose; _thanks for making me feel better, but you really shouldn't do the little guy down…should you? Nah, you've gotta be making that one up…_;

"I know what you're thinking"; even as her brain was delivering the words to her lips Big had seen the thoughts in her face and was answering those directly, "no, Tails has yet to manage a pair of good casts back-to-back, not like it bothers him though. He freely admits he's never going to make it as a fisherMobian – he only tries if he's visiting with Cream usually".

"Oho, is that so?" _Now I can definitely tell what you're thinking_; unfortunately, recognition of such thought didn't stop him smirking at it, mirroring the expression the Chaotix sat next to him was suddenly sporting, "Is he still trying to kid on that there's nothing going on beyond a friendship – not even he could be that blind, Sonic's brother or not?"

"Apparently so, they're both as bad as each other though, you can't just blame him", the cat snickered even if half his attention was focussed on the water before him, "they usually drive by if they've got an hour or so to kill after they've been flying".

"Right", the armadillo drawled in a questioning manner, this new information starting to get really juicy as far as she was concerned, "he never told us that, and anyway I thought he wouldn't have a lot of time around now – it must be one of his busy times of year surely? Although", now she thought about it a bit more the facts seemed to contradict themselves somewhat, "maybe not – can't imagine too many people wanting to go sightseeing when it's getting cold and the nights are drawing in like a pair of old net curtains".

"Something like that; or at least that's the excuse he uses anyway", Big mentioned a moment later, his effortless recall allowing him to know such things before he leant over a touch to give his girlfriend a shallow dig in the ribs, "personally I reckon it's just an excuse to get Cream up in the air a bit more…what?" As a depth-charge seemed to detonate in Mighty's nasal passages the cat managed to look affronted despite having a good idea of exactly what was running through her mind. Choking back her laughter a little more, Mighty let go of the rod with one hand for a moment as she waved her hand in his general direction, warding off his questions as she sought desperately to thrust those thoughts back into the dankest, darkest oubliette of her mind,

"No, no trust me you do not want to know about that"; _though it's an interesting spin on the idea – I wonder if there is such a thing as the junior mile-high cl…right, that's enough of that, they are both too young and too level-headed to be that stupid. Besides_; another smile split her lips, this one perhaps not quite so wicked as her previous lip-works; _officially there's nothing going on between them, at least as far as they're prepared to admit to anyone_. Quickly dashing her hands across her eyes as tears of mirth threatened to fracture her vision, Mighty heard a noise off to the side of her and looked around,

"Sorry, what was that, I was er, busy shall we say?"

"Well, just a point mind", Big shrugged casually before flicking his finger forwards, "but you might want to think about striking sometime soon?"

"Huh?" Following his finger the armadillo looked out over the water; _oh, yeah, the float's where I…ah!_; and seeing her marker being dragged against the current, Mighty reacted instinctively, whipping the real back at the same time as jerking violently on the side of the rod. There was a lurch from the water before her and she was poised for the struggle, ready to pit her wits and strength against whatever it was she'd been able to snare, but such preparation was unnecessary; aside from the residual vibrations caused by her tremendous strike, the rod tip remained still. _Damn, it got away, and I know why_; with a bad-tempered huff the armadillo resigned herself to reeling in the slack of her line and slumped back, sighing slightly more evenly as she looked across,

"I know, I struck with the reel".

"Yep", Big seconded her identification of her mistake, "you'll have ripped the bait right out of his throat with that sort of shot; poor little guy'll never be able to face up to snacking on a red-berry again this side of five-figure therapy".

"Ah, he'll be fine, in fact I'm almost sure", the armadillo moved her hand again, ready as her float began to bob up and down again, "he's coming back for another bite at the cherry".

XXX

Slowly sucking on the tips of her fingers one at a time, Mighty sat back as the last of the juices of the meal they'd just shared together trickled down the back of her throat; the material around her absorbed her shell like an old cricket glove around a well-hit ball and, right at this moment in time, she felt replete with her lot in life.

"Now that was a decent bite; compliments to the chef as always", Big ducked his head at the praise before the armadillo added, almost as an afterthought, "though of course, most of the kudos goes to the girl who managed to snare dinner in the first place".

"Just like you said – beginners luck was all that was required. Complete fluke though"; _yeah, yeah – you're just embarrassed you got upstaged by a complete newbie in your own back yard_; regardless of her thoughts Mighty stayed silent as Big wandered over and slowly eased the massive fern from over her lap, carefully folding the one-use dinner plate so that all the traces of her recently devoured meal refrained from dripping down and soaking her legs, "that hook wasn't dredging the bottom so how the hell you managed to hook a barbell, especially a bit of a beastie like that one, is beyond me".

"Ah, just call it complete and utter spawn; I'm the last person to ask about how I actually catch anything with the twig and twine – I just stay still and it sort of blunders into me. Speaking of spawn by the way", Mighty's voice rose over the sudden gust of wind as the cat opened the front door to his home and casually discarded the fern leaves he'd skilfully plucked to the capricious attention of the disturbed air so that nature would quickly see them rotted away to mulch, "did Froggy bed down for the winter okay?"

"I assume so", Big replied as the front door closed behind him with a bit of a bang, leaving only a small, uncovered gap between two of the sturdy trunks that made up the walls of his home as the only possible entryway into their now private haven, "I don't stand over him as he digs himself in like – I figure he's old and ugly enough to have got the gist of how to ride out the frost by now".

"You're one to talk calling him ugly – no wonder you never put mirrors in this place"; _there was no need for that_; affronted, the cat quickly leafed backwards through his memories, concentrating on the few times he'd ever seen Shadow and Sonic together as he quested for a really witty put-down; _right, that'll do nicely_;

"At least I've got the option of putting them up"; _where are you going with this?_; trying to see the end point of the cat's snapback, Mighty tried to steal a march in this new war of wits, "if you tried they'd shatter the second you so much as glanced in their direction".

"Well doesn't that say a lot about your standards – going out with a troll like me?"

"It says a lot more about being able to look beyond the obvious; I go for personality over looks every time"; _come on, come on_; her mind whirred into overtime – she couldn't let him win after that but even as steam began to condense in her overheating brain and Big leered at his forthcoming victory, she had nothing left to fire back with and with a half-hearted growl she relented, slumping back in her chair again as the cat celebrated his triumph as discreetly as he was able to, even offering her his condolences, in a way at least,

"Ah well, at least you've got the nicest personality I've ever come across", somehow the growl from across the room didn't reassure him that she'd got the right end of the stick in that case and he tried again, "that and the fact you're the first and only girl who's ever dared to venture in here more than once, willingly at least".

"Yeah, willingly, that's one word for it I suppose, though I could think of others a lot more closer to the mark", the armadillo said gratingly, though this time her voice didn't chafe because of what he'd said; it was more to do with another problem a lot closer to home as far as she was concerned. Curiosity aroused, Big leaned forwards a little, taking in the way she seemed to be squirming around a little more around on the seat and wondering if he was reading the situation right as he measured his next question carefully,

"How so – if not willingly, then how?"

"How about out of necessity? Would you mind at all – sorry to ask…"

"Don't be; I thought it might have been that", quickly crossing the room as Mighty hopped off her seat, allowing Big to sit down and slap his knee beckoningly, "come on then, let's get those gribbles sorted out; rather now than on the National Express I suppose".

"You suppose right; refused dad's offer of a quick tidy-up just before a two hour car journey once, only ever happened once"; the mere memory of that torturous two-hour stint in purgatory made the insistent itching she was going through now increase in tempo even more. Only the thought that this problem was going to be removed very quickly gave her the strength to go on without looking like a robot recently deprived of oil, moving jerkily in order to try to keep the burning feeling at bay as much as possible; going along he lines to keep her discomfort as short as possible, the Chaotix hopped back up to the lap that was inviting her openly as an escape hatch from the curse of the gribbles.

XXX

As Mighty landed across his lap, Big as always had to wrestle down the imp of mischief that suddenly sparked into life and whispered in his ear that swatting the prostrate armadillo's tail would actually be a really good and funny idea. _No it wouldn't – well, not for her anyway_; grateful only that she couldn't see the smirk that licked across his lips, Big raised his favoured right hand and slipped the claw on his index finger out from its natural sheath, holding it up and ready as Mighty reached backwards with both hands, grabbing twin fistfuls of her top and pulling it forwards, exposing the naked plates of her shell, giving him a clear target to work with.

"It's mostly two down from the top", her voice came at him from somewhere around his kneecaps, "feels a bit soft, probably just a couple of bits of fluff – we need to get the couch at our place replaced, it's starting to bobble up like nobody's business".

"Hey, don't talk to me about interior decoration", the cat chuckled as he ever-so-slowly set his claw into place just above the armadillo's tail, looking to slide the natural weapon through the chink in her armour at the bottom of her back and work his way up from there, "I might be a jack of many trades but believe me feng-shi, or however you pronounce it, has never been one of them".

"Us neither", Mighty replied before she tensed unconsciously; though technically the hard horn encasing just over half of her was nerveless, some deep instinct forced her to recognise when such cover had been breeched and react accordingly; tense up and narrow the gap between the overlapping shell plates even further. It was a battle of will over primal urge to still her natural reactions, give Big even the minute amount of space he needed to work with – a hard scrap to be sure, but one she was able to win out in the end, "the closest Vec's come to maintaining inner balance in the living room is a can of soda in one hand and a plate of crisps in the other".

"And two cans in his hat I'm sure", Big chuckled, though he focused his attention solely on his patient as he let his claw slip in further by increments; the second a barely-perceptible quiver rippled its way up through his probing claw to the receptive nerves of his fingertips he ceased all forwards motion – that signal meant he'd reached the skin and to press on any more would be very unwise. As Mighty had told him, and as he knew to be true himself due to a little research in the Station Square library following an apprentice session with Mr Trenton, wounds under an armadillo's shell were serious things indeed, no matter how small or insignificant they might seem; by the very nature of their location they were virtually impossible to keep clean and as such often became infected, paving the way for all sorts of nasties get into the open sore and cause trouble, potentially life-threatening trouble at that. So he began to slide his claw along very slowly, watching the armadillo's reactions at the same time as concentrate solely on the task in hand, blotting out the very slight ache in his thigh where Mighty had grabbed onto a handful of his fur and was spasmodically tightening and loosening her grip depending on where he natural nail was. _Take it steady, got all the time in the world_; it was true, following the contours of the armadillo's shell was relatively simple and he had done this before – sifting through the sands of his memory made the task in hand all the easier as far as he was concerned.

As at every time this ritual was enacted, there was only one stage that made Big a little uncomfortable and that was when it came to trying to get under the broadest of his partner's shell plates; the first and most obvious reason for this was that the depth of the cleft beneath the shell was such that his favoured index finger claw was too short to reach down to the skin of her back. This meant that he had to use the larger claw of his middle finger, which was a little more difficult to manoeuvre precisely under such duress and he was therefore always a little edgy that he was more likely to inadvertently scratch her now than at any other time during the shell cleaning; however, the other reason that gave him slightly more cause for concern at this latest step was that Mighty, rolling her shirt up over her back to make sure he had a clear target to run at, always now pulled the material up far enough to expose the back strap of her bra. The sight of such material; Mighty had almost laughed her socks off when Big, blushing furiously during the very first time he'd volunteered to give this sort of work a shot, had been forced to admit that had been the first time in his sheltered, frugal life that he'd ever seen any aspect of a lady's undergarments whilst they were still being worn; was still a little uncomfortable to him though he'd almost got used to the idea by now, even to the point where he was just about able to bring himself to undo the clip himself rather than the armadillo having to reach round and do it for him. Though he logically knew why it was necessary to remove obstacles from the path of his claws it always made the butterflies in his stomach kip-up into action when he felt the clip give way under his fingers, the two halves of the sundered strap falling to either side of the armadillo's shell – he always quickly pressed on at this stage, not wanting to risk jeopardising something as important as the one serious relationship he'd ever had outside his family by lingering on the lurid visions conjured up by his libido, stimulated by the realisation that Mighty was, completely by her own consent, almost semi-naked in his lap.

_Take a deep breath – this isn't the time to be thinking things like that_; it was true enough and he flicked out the claw he needed for the job without further ado, focussing his attention on the matt black expanse of Mighty's shell rather than that thin sheets of white that draped down either side of it, drowning out his desires with a workman's pride in the job; _you've got to make sure Mighty's comfortable in her own skin again, they'll be plenty of time for that sort of thing, later…_. He never quite answered his own thought then, never asked himself when later might actually be, but as his blade slipped into the joist between the two large shell plates such ideas were quickly banished by his naturally caring attitude and his inability to even consider the possibility of injuring his friend through negligence on his part. Luckily the blade slipped in cleanly, the slight hook of his claw feathering home on the armadillo's back and stopping short as its owner felt the resultant twitch transmit up along his finger, Mighty giving a short hiss as she felt his attention from her position, her voice thick as her chest was compressed against his legs,

"Ahhh, that's the spot"; _that's got rid of the lot of it – the rate he's going I won't need doing again until we touch down in bonnie Scotland_; "sorry if it looks like you've been stirring your nail through a tar pit though – believe me Charmy does his best".

"I know, and don't worry", examining the assembled mess as his claw retracted, the cat carefully reached over and wiped the tip of his finger with another of the fern leaves he always kept handy, hanging in bushels from his roof in order to be ready for times like this, "I've seen a lot worse; remember what you were doing in the summer?"

"Don't remind me; I think I must have carried half that damned desert back into Echidnopolis with me", Mighty spat forcefully, the merest memory of the horror that had been Sandopolis making her shiver, "I could hear you trying to get those grains out, sounded like someone was dredging the Silver Sea".

"Ah well, I got them all in the end", she heard the cat's voice a split-second before freezing again, the faint scratch of his nail infiltrating the crevice of her shell plates grating at her ears before she forced herself to relax again, consciously reminding herself over and over that he was aiding her, a friend rather than a traitor beneath her armour, "took a while like, but in the end it was worth it".

"Too right – oohhh, you have no idea how much of a life-saver you are Big"; _that was the worst and he just breezed through it – buzz-boy wouldn't have stood a chance, those gribbles were right in at the narrow end_; "I was able to walk around without looking like the tin man from the Wizard of Oz when they lost his can of oil for the first time in a month". She felt as well as heard his answering chortle, the sound vibrating though his legs and straight into her body, the feeling tingling all the way through her body in a way nothing else ever really could,

"Just as well we did that first really wasn't it? I mean, trying to teach you anything while you were jumping around like someone sitting on an anthill would have been a wasted effort on both our parts".

"Too right – you about done? I can tell you're on your way up, is it top or second from top?"

"Top, and if you'll lay still a minute"; _oww, no need for that_; flicking her heels up, the armadillo took exception to the cat's treatment of her defenceless tail tip and buffeted his huge arm with the sole of one of her boots in revenge for his underhanded flick, "we'll be done in a second".

"Great, go for it; you know, I was reading not so long ago there's supposed to be a new operation available for Mobians like me, just a cosmetic thing, nothing major but it's supposed to be a life-saver from the reviews it was getting in the mag I'd picked up". She fell quiet for a second, not daring to talk as Big's claw went under for the final time; there was a brief moment of final, alien contact against her normally untouched, raw back skin before the presence withdrew and she was safe to draw breath again,

"Go on", Big prompted her from above, evidently intrigued by this new news from the land above. Taking a second to recuperate both her train of thought and reach around to grip both sides of her unclasped bra, Mighty eventually continued her story,

"Yeah, it was to do with some bright spark downstairs figuring out what I could have told him when I was four – our shells are nerveless, so are those of most other species with one of these things on our backs. So matey in the mag does a bit of thinking, realises hang on a moment, it must be really uncomfortable to live with one of them…"

"No…", Big's pause spoke more than any word ever could have; Mighty had to cover her mouth with her hand to stop the explosive laughter bursting forth, ruining her progress so far in covering herself up properly, "…Sherlock".

"My, myhihihi thoughts exactleehehehe; ah, come on, stop it", with a mental jerk she pulled herself back together and shook her head, "well anyway, he figures out that if he drills a succession of holes through the plates, shallow ones like, nothing near the skin, well then us armadillos could just get a mate to slip a couple of pipe cleaners through the hole and hey presto, gribbles gone for good. Apparently he's raking in four figures per op, and he hasn't stopped his surgery since his procedure went mainstream".

"Good for him", Big mused after a couple of seconds debating the issue mentally, sneaking a peek downwards to see Mighty just about manage to clip her top back together and start rolling her shirt back down, "he saw a gap in the market, or in fact he saw there wasn't a gap in the market and found a way to make one. You thought about going for it?"

"Not a chance", the armadillo informed him in no uncertain terms; bracing his leg, Big felt her hand grab onto his knee and sucked his stomach in as much as he was able to in order to let Mighty roll over on his lap, facing upwards as she finished, "for a start I've got something better than any new-fangled machine they manage to wheel out the doctor's surgery, and secondly have you even thought what Vector would say if I said I wanted a grand or two for an op like that? No hope missus; top off, into the garage and I'll plug in the Black and Decker, be with you in a second".

"You know I wouldn't put it past him either", Big chuckled, joining the armadillo in her snickering for a moment before seriousness reasserted itself once more and he found himself gazing down into her face once more, a warmth suddenly blossoming on his chest and his arm moving almost without him thinking about it to reciprocate such intimate heat with the one who allowed him to feel it so.

XXX

Barely aware of the movements of her own fingers though reasonably sure they were all still massaging their way though the Big guy's chest and belly hair as his purrs were still echoing though the house like a continual roll of gentle thunder, Mighty focussed completely on where her boyfriend's dinner-plate sized palm was resting atop her own stomach, one edge of his gloved hand slowly creeping its way down through the gap she'd left as she'd roughly pulled her top back down over herself as she'd rolled over. For once grateful that her shell was as rigid as it was, Mighty let herself relax backwards as much as she was able to; she knew that she wasn't going to topple backwards because her natural armour kept her in place across Big's thighs; _and even if that wasn't there, he's almost wide enough to stretch out on anyway_. Thoughts and idle calculations such as those flitted into and out of her mind as they pleased; she didn't bother with them in any real way as right now they weren't important – all that mattered was that Big was caressing her tenderly and she was doing likewise, each completely comfortable with the mood and ministrations of the other. Touch had always played an important role in their relationship; having been alone for most of his adult life such sensations were novel and exhilarating for Big, unseen and therefore unremembered by his flawless recall, and as far as she was concerned the shell that swallowed half her body meant she only had half a sense of feeling anyway – anything situation that let her use such a stunted sense to the fullest were moments to be milked for all they were worth. A grin crept over her face, widening as Big's hand finally made it to where it had been aiming for; her fingers clenched in the fur of his chest, contracting uncontrollably in response to his movements, the sawing motion he was making across her stomach making the corners of her mouth stretch further apart until it looked like her grin was about ready to separate her head,

"Kreeee"; she didn't know why she was making any noise at all, she wasn't ticklish in any way – it just felt so, so different and nice that she couldn't keep a lid on her vocal chords, "you trying to saw me in half there pal?"

"Too right", his reply descended to her a moment later though his movements never slackened for a second, "I'm trying to see where most of that barbell went; it's in here somewhere I'm sure, but there's a lot of ground to cover". That got a reaction; a muffled thump suddenly drowned out the purring around the cabin as Mighty took exception to her partner's latest jest,

"Lot of ground my foot", the armadillo muttered up crossly even if she carried on stroking his chest fur the second her slap hit home, "put it like this; if I've got a pit for a stomach you've got an entire cave system in there somewhere mate", she declared, prodding Big's ample berth with the elbow of her scratching, stroking hand.

"Something like that; if I for any reason drop down dead in the middle of Station Square I really pity the coroner who has to get on with the autopsy; forget the scalpel, you'd need a chainsaw to get through this lot". Mighty's stomach skin fluttered helplessly, laughter breeching through her even her scrunched up face as she tried to imagine Big laid up on a mortuary slab; in most circumstances that would have been an awful thing to picture but in this context, when she could see the look of horror on the face of the senior practitioner clashing too perfectly with the pained, exhausted expression of the pallbearers who'd brought him down, each holding their aching backs and moaning, she couldn't help but giggle like a tipsy schoolgirl. Big also laughed at pretty much the same image, but his mirth didn't, or perhaps couldn't, stop his eyes lingering on the way the armadillo's helpless sniggering was making the material around her torso, still loose as she hadn't pulled it down properly, ride up a little further, exposing more of her stomach and her navel. Quickly moving to take advantage of this good fortune, the cat replaced his hand on his girlfriend's still-quivering stomach, the sudden contact maybe helping her snap out of her giggling fit as she quietened down after another minute or so, breathing deeply with her face flushed pink with the sudden exertion as she looked up into the cats open, honest face.

Neither spoke, both merely continued to stare deeply into the eyes of the other for time that stretched on and on; Big's lips were dry as desert sands but he dared not lick them, dared not try anything that might end this lovely moment. His eyes never left Mighty's just as she never broke her gaze away from his; even when he felt another pressure on top of the hand he had laid gently on her nude stomach he didn't look away, feeling instead Mighty's palm massaging the top of his knuckles and, after a minute of merely soaking up such blissful pleasure, beginning to transmit such a feeling downwards through his own palm. Only then, as this massage started was the soul searching between their eyes end, Mighty's eyelids falling shut as her lips parted slightly, the sigh that whistled from between such a parting a sweet, sweet music to Big's huge ears.

"Please", she shivered for a moment, a tremor so tremulous Big barely believed it had originated from someone as normally stolid as Mighty was, "that feels absolutely magical; don't stop, whatever you do".

"Okay", Big agreed mutely; she could have asked him to sign away his soul in that moment and he'd have put pen to paper without a second thought; to keep Mighty looking as happy as she did now was worth any sort of sacrifice, "you just…" Her eyes opened once more, a glint of understand in those jade eyes that took him a little by surprise,

"I know; here", reaching up once more, she freed his crabbing hand and set her own fingers back to work, the strong digits brushing through the cat's thick winter coat to softly tenderise the hardened flesh underneath, "that good?"

"Perfect; I won't…" he broke off to gasp a moment, the armadillo hitting a sweet spot he'd never even known he'd had, "…won't quit if you keep going".

"Done deal", assuring herself that it was so, Mighty closed her eyes once more and settled back, feeling only the warmth at her belly and underneath her hand as she did so, "oohhhoooo, too much more of this and I'm going to either fall asleep or pass out; just put me to bed if I start snoring".

"Only if I'm still awake at that point; if we go down together we'll just have to spend the night like this".

"I can, I can live with that".

"Good, me-hehe, me too".

XXX

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, neither of the two ever really figured out if their inability to succumb to the siren's call of sleep was a good or a bad thing, both were still awake when the final, completely unplanned celebration of the night kicked off. And, like everything, it began with a spoken word rather than an earth-shattering explosion, Big looking down at where Mighty was still laying back replete and smiled,

"So tell me"; _hmm, what do you want to know?_; not able to even consider refusing answering, the armadillo merely nodded to let him continue, mind beginning to descend slightly from the warmth that had previously cocooned it but still mostly wrapped up in the loving heat's caress, "what's the plan of action when we actually touch down north of the border?" The armadillo pursed her lips, trying to tot up how much she should let Big hear and how much she should keep secret, a surprise for when they were actually there,

"Well, after we say bye to the rest of your rabble", Mighty began, Big's hand giving a warning squeeze on her stomach to let her know he didn't take all that kindly to insinuations about his family; _okay okay, point taken_; "which I'm looking forwards to by the way, we'll catch a flight over there; my parents are already on their way, we'll meet in kind of a halfway house sort of thing, so at least you won't have to catch dad in his garage"; _or prise him out of it for that matter, though I doubt he'll be in that good a mood being dragged away from his toys for too long_; luckily Big never noticed her face darken as her thoughts strayed to her father, he was too busy thinking backwards to what she'd said in the past regarding that particular parent,

"Yeah, you did say he was into his engineering – heh, sounds like he and my dad should get on like a house on fire"; _somehow I doubt it – Bill's patient, fair-minded and thinks the world of his wife, three things dad's never been or ever done_;

"Yeah, we can but hope", Mighty said brazenly, hoping her voice was giving the words of her mind more cheer than her heart was, "but anyway, after that, we all drive up there and it all kicks off – and no, I'm not saying any more than that".

"Why not?"

"I want it to be a surprise".

"Believe me it'll be one – come on", Big knew that look and was already trying to work out a plan to deal with it, "don't be awkward about this".

"Why not? It's more fun that way", the armadillo smiled sweetly, apparently either unaware or uncaring as Big's hazel eyes narrowed at her obstinacy, "and besides, anything that can keep you in suspense has to be a weighty matter indeed". _All that and a pun at my waistline too_; the cat appeared to be saddened as he gave a wistful sigh, though his eyes betrayed that false sincerity as they glinted at the challenge,

"Okay, we do this the hard way then; just don't say", he began exerting the pressure he hoped would break her, feeling the prodigious rack of muscles in her gut immediately clench together, seeking to resist the force of his palm heel, "you weren't given a chance!"

XXX

_No chance pal_; he was strong in his own right but she was his match this time, her six-pack holding up to the assault from his bulging forearm as she gritted her teeth, hoping to press her stomach muscles out to really rub his face in the fact that he'd been beaten by a girl; _you're strong but I was born to be the toughest_. Grinning even through her gritted teeth, she managed to grate out her victory speech into the straining face of her boyfriend, pressing down on her as he still was,

"Nice…idea", she said, taking her time to breathe a little between the words to ensure that her body had enough breath to work with to avoid cramps, "shame it…didn't work".

"Ah, but Mich", his tone was similarly gasped; only the fact she had to divert yet more attention to the battle of her bulge meant she missed the suddenly predatory expression that flashed onto Big's face, "who said this…was the whole plan?" _Now!_

In the blink of an eye, the huge cat had whipped his arm back from where it had been trying to press his girlfriend through his own legs; caught out by the sudden loss of contact, Mighty's tensed muscles immediately tensed up further and she half-curled up involuntarily. _What, what are you…?_; disorientated and gasping down fresh breath, the Chaotix member had barely enough time to think as she relaxed again, whipping back down to her previous position like a snapped bow string; _why did he just…?_ Even as her mind logged the query she felt herself rise, glanced down to where the gaping jaws were opened and waiting for her and all her thoughts turned to panicked escape, thrashing desperately to try and force her way out of Big's arms as he lifted her upwards towards the very worst fate she could ever hope to avoid.

Fighting hard not to laugh and lose precious air that could be better spent on other avenues, Big ignored Mighty's last, flailed shrieks of retribution and pleading for mercy in time to press his face downwards and blow a long, loud raspberry against her recently-sensitised stomach.

The result of this underhand attack was utter pandemonium; mind blown completely clear of the water by the vibrations that swept aside all hopes of rational thought, Mighty virtually screamed out loud and redoubled her efforts to break free, barely aware of what she was saying at all as Big tried equally as hard to reinforce his hold over her shell and thighs, hugging her stomach against his lips as he drew in another deep breath through his nose. _Give her just a second – that'll do_; grinning again now as the armadillo began to get hold of herself once again, the cat delivered his ultimatum,

"Right Miss Armadillo, you want some more of the same?"

"Wha, what? You dare", the cold venom in her voice would have made any other Mobian back down, least of all one who had seen firsthand the devastation Mighty's strength could leave in its wake if she chose it to do so, "you dare and I'll – no!" A puff of air made her naked skin flutter; for some reason she'd never understood this kind of attack was able to smash straight through her defences in a way nothing else ever could – she imagined it was for the same kind of reason that Charmy went orbital whenever Espio seized him around the knee but at this moment in time she didn't give a damn about the reason why it happened, she was too busy trying to work out a way of avoiding it happening in the very near future at very short notice.

"No you say – then say something else…"

"Haha, no way", finally wrestling on of her arms free, Mighty covered her exposed weak point with the back of her liberated paw, "try and get past this if you can".

"My pleasure"; _no way_; she felt him press his lips forwards again and she fought like a dervish to stop him, forced to rely on touch and her natural stubbornness to see where she was going as she couldn't crane her neck down far enough to see the struggle itself; _you shall not pass Big – you are not doing that to me ever again. Aha, a whisker, now I've got, hey_; suddenly he froze, and it wasn't just because she had hold of one of his long, fine facial hairs either; _what gives?_ Suddenly she felt herself descend, the unexpectedness of him letting his arms go limp like this in turn meaning she lost her vital hold on his tender spot; for a second she remained on high alert, expecting this to be another ploy in trying to get her helpless again for a second attack – only then did she see her boyfriend's face. After a second of seeing the way his cheeks were the colour of whey and beating down the resultant panic that such a sigh caused did she notice the way his eyes were fixed into the distance, seeing something else as the blood began to burn its way back into his face; following his gaze, Mighty too saw what had caught his attention and felt herself similarly transfixed by the vision, her own face exploding vermillion as the implications of this sight sank in.

The small gap in the wall of Big's home was a gap no longer; it had been filled in the very recent past with a most unusual material indeed. Even as the armadillo and cat watched on, both jaws hanging slack and hardly breathing from the shock of the sight, the familiar blue face grinned, raised an eyebrow at the pair of them, extracted itself from the hole a little and whispered a couple of words that both of them heard effortlessly,

"Go right in guys; get the party started".

XXX

Face ablaze but body movement explosive Mighty, yanking down the bottom of her shirt again in a belated damage-control scheme about as useful as a chocolate fireguard now that Sonic had seen what he'd seen, managed to vacate Big's lap in a single bound just before it was filled again by the beige blur that whizzed in through the cat's front door; Big had barely enough time to catch his breath before a pair of arms were around his neck and a joyful voice was calling down his ear,

"All right Big guy; sorry it's a bit early but merry Christmas to you, and you as well Miss Mighty";_ Miss?_; as always it was the presence of manners, perhaps a little more rough and ready than they had been once but manners nevertheless, that let him put a name to voice,

"Cream?" There was another sudden pressure in his lap as a pair of dainty feet touched down and the forenamed rabbit put her hands on her hips and grinned broadly, giving a cheeky wink,

"Yep", she pirouetted gratefully on one of the cats huge thighs, waving at where Mighty was still stood gawking dumbfounded at the same time as extend a hand to usher in the rest of her support cast, "and everyone else is here too".

"Too right", Amy agreed with her younger 'sister', striding into her former team-mate's home just behind Tails, the pilot's older brother bringing up the rear and pulling the door closed behind him to keep out the cold, "think we were just going to let you slip away over the border without saying goodbye and season's greetings first – pull the other one". _Yes, just keep pulling it for a second longer_; frantically tucking herself back in, Mighty tried to get herself ready before any of the attention fell on her; _almost done – okay, good to go. Just make sure the Smurf knows that if he so much as whispers anything about what he saw I'll rip him in two and we'll be sorted_; taking a quick, deep breath, the armadillo turned back around in time to see Amy bearing down on her, the pink hedgehog's face open and honest as she reached for one of the armadillo's paws; after shaking and giving her friend a quick once-over, the Chaotix smiled and buffeted the undergraduate gently on the shoulder,

"Oww, what was that…?"

"That was from Shadow", Amy's face was a peach as Mighty wagged a finger at her reprimandingly, "hopefully that'll teach you to get ratty with him when he's trying to wish you luck for your exams". Piqued by the reminder, rather than break out cursing at the black hedgehog's long-distance comeback Amy instead hung her head a little, chuckling regretfully as she did recall all too clearly being a little sharp with her friend on Angel Island the night before her first major exams had to be sat,

"Heh, well okay, I might have deserved that, but my nerves were in absolute tatters by then; I've never been so glad I don't smoke", the hedgehog mumbled with a shrug before attempting to explain things from her point of view, giving an example of how ragged she'd been feeling leading up to going into the examination hall itself, "I'd have been puffing like a chimney for weeks beforehand just to try and calm myself down".

"And she's not lying either", Cream chipped in as Big, finally beginning to catch up with what was going on, began to pull apart the large mound of freshly plucked heather that he used for a bed to provide seating for his guests, "this one time Cheese nearly tripped her over when she called round with Sonic; I swear I never knew she knew half the words that came out of her mouth – thanks". _My pleasure_; the rabbit's grateful smile was enough to force a reciprocal grin to form on the cat's lips as Amy's ears drooped lower in embarrassment, the colour of her cheeks giving her a passable impression of Knuckles from the right angle,

"Hmm, well…" Unfortunately at that point someone else stuck their oar in to make a bad situation for just that little bit more excruciating,

"Believe me no matter what you heard I got it worse", Tails said in a long-suffering manner; he perhaps would have added more had he not seen the filth in the glance Amy threw his way and swiftly weighed up that a few cheap laughs now would probably cost him a lot more hassle than it was worth in the long run, "but it's all over now; anyway at least she was speaking in a language. What were you two up to just now – we could have heard you from Mystic Ruins?"

Now it was Mighty's turn to go red, trying to think of a quick way to explain what she and Big had gotten up to on the fly and in a way that wouldn't sound completely absurd to their friends was a challenge she simply wasn't up to. Certainly not when she recalled that there was someone else here would could and, knowing him as well as she did she reckoned it was a better than even bet that he eventually would reveal precisely what had gone on. _Okay, here we go then_; she could see it coming, time seeming to slow to a crawl in mockery of her feeble attempts to shut Sonic up before he could open his big mouth – she kissed her ego goodbye, all but closing her eyes as the first syllable left the lips of her childhood friend,

"You don't want to know kid, believe me on that. In fact", Mighty caught the flash of his eyes and promptly returned it with a death glare of her own, "I'd say you're too young to know". Immediately Tails started sniggering, Cream attempting to keep her lips level and failing as she saw Big, stood behind Sonic as he went back for another load of heather for a third seat, drawing back his hand from behind Sonic as though ready to hammer the hedgehog through the floor of his house as Mighty mentally egged him on; _go on, it'll save me having to do it later_. To her mingled relief and disappointment her boyfriend couldn't find it within his soft heart to do anything other than drop his arm and whistle innocently as the hedgehog span around, quills prickling as he realised that all was not as it should have been. His sudden spurt of paranoia well justified, the hedgehog raised a hand palm upwards to keep his largest friend at bay,

"Nice try pal, but I've got my eye on you"; _why's he looking so smug all of a sudden?_; just this once his speed was lacking and before he could connect suspicions to actions, someone spoke,

"Good", from just behind him – the next instant there were tears starting to form in the corner of his eye as a vice-like something seized hold of the quills on the back of his head and hoisted him off the ground by them, "shame you don't have eyes in the back of your head spikes". Seeing his brother being brutalised in this manner, Tails valiantly came to his aid with a giggle and a dry comment,

"Mighty, please don't hurt him, or swing him around at all; he's carrying the dice, we need him alive".

"Dice?" Mighty queried, still not letting go of the top of the blue hero's head and apparently immune to where he was kicking backwards at her shins in a vain attempt to free himself, "what's this about dice Smurf". Gasping against the pain even as he tried to hold himself still, the azure hedgehog spoke in pained, uncontrolled bursts,

"It's a game, a game Amy taught us", he explained, the trying to surreptitiously raise his hands and get some relief to his straining spikes, "could you let go now, please?"

"Hmm, oh I suppose so; don't make fun of what you don't understand", she demanded as she uncurled her fist and let Sonic slump to the floor again; as always, after turning around, gingerly reaching up and smoothing out his natural hair style, the blue blur rebounded on her with a quip of his own,

"And why not; I've never heard the M.E. complain", he quoted as he slumped backwards, teetering on the mound of heather Big had thoughtfully set up right behind him, "the guardian neither for that matter, not that I've ever listened much to what either of them have got to say".

"Shame, even you might finally learn something if you did", Cream sniped, nailing him dead on with that pretty much perfect quote before moving on before he could muster anything like retaliation, "but we're losing time nattering like old women; Amy", the rabbit wound up her speech, indicating her adoptive older sibling imperiously, "the game".

"Too right; Big, do you have anything like an old table we could use – this needs a flat surface to play. And don't just sit there looking ornamental Sonic, dole out the dice and cups while we're getting ready". With a disbelieving tut, Sonic's hand dove into the bag he'd brought with him and emerged a few seconds later, dropping a quintet of brightly-coloured cubes into a sturdy, opaque plastic beaker and passing it to his right, the recipient fox trying very hard not to smirk as his adoptive older sibling muttered mutinously,

"Yes miss, no miss, three bags full miss – hard to believe her exams ended a week ago isn't it? I mean come on, I've got one on the twenty-second, three days before Christmas and do you see me going to pieces and mouthing off at my friends?"

"Nah, no more than usual at least", Tails commented, attempting to cheer the hedgehog up a touch after the duo of put-downs he'd been forced to endure over the past few minutes, "you're too laid back to get stressed by anything".

"Too right I am", Sonic assured him with the cocksure grin the pilot knew so well, handing another prepared cup to Big as the cat sat down, a nod from Mighty telling him she had a handle on dragging the small chest he kept behind the back of his chair over, the best sort of table he could muster under the circumstances, "okay people, gather round and grab a cup, let me know if I've missed anyone out or you're a dice down".

"You should have five", Amy added a second later, seeing Big looking into his cup almost doubtfully, "and if you don't check it's not Sonic's fault if you've been short-changed, he's only playing by the rules of the game".

"Oh yes", Mighty said as she sat down on her own impromptu seat, accepting the cup Cream passed over to her and giving the dice inside a quick head count, "and what is the name of this particular game then?" Amy looked over, a sly smirk playing on her lips as she purred a name throatily,

"Liar dice".

XXX

When all was ready, Amy brought them all to order by placing her palm over the top of her beaker and shaking it vigorously, the rattling of the small cubes inside bringing the attention of all present onto her and allowing her to begin explaining,

"Right, liar dice is easy to play; shake your dice up in the cup, then…" she slammed her plastic cup down on the chest before her, inverting it quickly as she did so to end up with the opaque plastic holder upside-down, shielding the dice beneath it from view, "…okay, go ahead". There was a crescendo of bangs and thumps as five other beaker rims hit the table top and, as the echoes died away, she quickly carried on where she'd left off,

"Right, now only look at your own dice, don't show anyone else", lifting the rim of her cup a little, she peeked at the way her cubes had fallen and then replaced the cup down, face thoughtful as though making up her mind about something, "all right then, I'll start; I'll bet that, underneath all our cups combined this is", she pointed out to clarify the situation, "that there are at least four-fours; that is, there are four dice showing four. That's my bid, so the play passes to the person on my left, we go clockwise".

"So it's my bid", Sonic carried on for her, taking a second to carefully check his dice again before he said anything else, "now lucky me, I've got two choices; I can either up the bid or I can call Ames a liar – now believe it or not even I'm not stupid enough to risk calling on such a low bid, so I'm going to up it to five-fours. This is the main rules of liar dice – you have to up the bid every time; either a higher number _of_ dice or a higher number _on_ the dice";_ guess that English paper did count for something – six months ago I'd have never been able to explain it that well. Still_; seeing a couple of the assembled congregation still looking a little puzzled, he decided to put the matter completely to bed; _practical examples always make things easier to picture than just words_;

"For example, Cream", the rabbit's head shot up from where she'd been examining her rolled dice, "I said five-fours, you can say five-fives, five-sixes or six of any other number; higher on the dice or higher number of dice, got me?" The rabbit's brow knitted for a second before she carefully unpicked the expression and said carefully,

"Yeah, yeah I think so; rats", ducking down for another quick peek, she surfaced again with a distinctly unsettled air about her, "I was hoping to go five-ones, but I guess it'll have to be six-ones now won't it?"

"That's still about average, one each", Tails commented reasonably as Mighty upped the bid to six-fours; however, when Big turned to him offering seven of the same number, he felt he had to take a stand, "now that's not right, I'm calling you a liar there. What happens now?" Eagerly turning to Amy and studiously ignoring Big's mortally wounded expression, the fox obeyed her next words unhesitatingly, desperate to know if he was right or not,

"Okay, lift your cup up and count how many fours you've got; go in sequence", first of the blocks as usual, Sonic quickly banged his cup down again, looking for all the world like a puppy denied a chocolate drop as Tails proudly unveiled his dice with a triumphant,

"None there".

"I've got two", Amy said a second later, Tails just about managing to keep his smile where it was as Sonic revealed his result and took the total up to four, over half the number Big needed to be proved innocent of lying. _Cream's not got any – lots of ones though – I'm nearly home_; Mighty sighed and he felt his heart plummet,

"Sorry Tails, five, six, seven".

"Eight and nine – we were doing all right there in the four department" the cat commented as his name was cleared in impressive fashion, "so what next?"

"Tails looses a die", Amy said simply, tapping the centre of the chest until the foxboy grudgingly flicked one of his cubes over in the general direction, "right, now we start again at step one; everyone shake them up and Tails gets to make the first bid". As the rattling and sextet of thunks died away, Cream piped up a query that had just occurred to her and cleared up the last grey area of the game,

"You lose a dice every time you're wrong; what happens when you run out?"

"You go 'cup-up'; flip the mug up and put your dice in it, ready for the next game", Sonic stated, examining the fall out this time before glancing in her direction and winking, "Ames was telling me, whoever goes out first buys the next round when they play this at Uni".

"Sounds about right, the stories I've heard from that place", Tails muttered disgruntled, trying to come up with a believable bid that wouldn't make it around the table back to him, "okay then, start with five-twos…"

XXX

A short time later, with the pile of lost dice in the centre swelled significantly, Cream tapped the top of her beaker; _don't you dare call me on that_; Sonic tried his best to look neutral, hoping the rabbit would swallow his outrageous bluff despite the fact that he still had a full set of five dice still under his mug. It was all he could do to stop wheezing with relief when after a long, long moment of self-deliberation, the rabbit turned to Mighty and said,

"Six-twos".

"And I agree", the armadillo said with a heavy grunt, Amy and Tails chuckling at that announcement as she checked under her cup once more, "I reckon there are six-twos, but I also think there's six-fives as well", she turned to smile coyly at her boyfriend, "what about you Big – think I'm lying?"

"I wouldn't put it past you", the cat drawled, drawing a pained gasp from the armadillo by his side before he turned an evilly-challenging gaze on the fox next to him, "but I'm pushing the boat out here – eight-sixes". There was a collective intake of breath; Tails did a quick head count of the number of dice left in play and, having consulted the laws of probability and come up with a big, fat no, shook his head, raising his cup,

"No chance, even though I've got one", and sure enough one of the fox's dice showed the obligatory six dots on its uppermost face. Amy whistled and lifted her beaker in turn,

"Sorry Big guy, I can't help you", her words compounded by Sonic merely shaking his head as he too came up empty-handed.

"I've got two", Cream piped up bravely, having managed to roll a pair on her remaining three dice but still not all that hopeful for Big's chances of retaining his five dice. Mighty also shook her head as she revealed no results on her remaining four,

"Looks like you're on your own pal; I'd have been all right with the fives though".

"Damned if you did and damned if you didn't", Tails laughed perhaps a little gloatingly, scenting the blood on the wind as the cat looked troubled, "come on, cough up unless you've got five under there". Big drew in a sigh before flicking his eyes to the side of him, trying his hardest not to smile as he slowly withdrew his beaker from the tabletop,

"Well, actually, funny you should mention that…" Tails started laughing, then looked at the dice exposed and the chuckles died in his throat,

"I don't believe it!"

As good-natured chaos erupted around the table the fox rested his forehead in his hand, still not believing the five sixes gleaming proudly from under the beaker of the one who had rolled them; _that's me down to just a pair then – how the hell did he roll that?_;

"Oooh, yhatze", Amy crowed before realising that no-one else would have had a Scooby what that meant, "that's what it's called when you roll five of a kind, it's a yhatze".

"It's also bloody jammy", the mechanic grumbled as he deliberately placed the dice that had rolled his six in the discard pile before glaring up the his left, "you spawny git – do you know how long it takes to repair the laws of probability after someone like you steamrollers them like that?"

"Ah well, if they need repairing you're just the Mobian to do it", Big commented with a good-natured tap to his shoulder, Tails heaving a weary sigh and reluctant smile as he scooped up his pair of dice and shook them up, sticking his tongue out at where Sonic was reducing Cream to helpless laughter with an exaggerated impersonation of him seeing the cat's yhatze, Mighty in the background also sniggering. Just after the beakers hit home this time, however, a low buzz percolated the air before Tails could make the first bid; all was still for a minute before a loud and at best semi-melodious tinny tune blared out from somewhere and Mighty suddenly lurched upright,

"Oh hell, sorry guys, hang on a sec; that's my phone".

"Phone?" Tails glanced around as though he were hearing things, not quite sure Mighty had meant what she'd said before looking over at Big, "didn't think you could get signal out here?"

"You couldn't until recently; apparently there was a bit of a to-do about a month back or so", the cat explained, looking over as Amy, having checked her phone, gave an almost disbelieving nod that she could still pick up incoming calls, "couple of young berks decided to go camping or something on the fly, got lost and of course, couldn't phone anyone to say where they were. Big scrambled search, normal sort of affair; there were found three days after they went missing, starving and at death's door from hypothermia – next thing you know they've got a small mobile mast erected in pretty much the centre of the plains out there, boosts the signals so much even I get can get a line in this neck of the woods. Will do as well soon as I can afford to buy a model".

"Brilliant!" Cream gave a sudden exclamation as the news sunk in that she'd be able to contact her huge teddy-bear of a friend any time she wanted to, "you'll have to get a good deal though, I'll see what my friends are…"

"Of all the…deal me out of the next round", the firm order from behind them all inadvertently squashed the younger Mobian's excited ideas for phone-shopping with her boyfriend, Mighty stood up with her phone at her ear looking, if not exactly angry, at least extremely agitated about what she was hearing, "this is going to take some time". Without another word, the armadillo headed for the door of the wooden house and let herself out, stepping into the cool embrace of the night as the door banged shut behind her.

Curious glances were indeed swapped over the makeshift table, Sonic as usual slightly the fastest off the mark,

"What got her dander up?" Big shrugged his shoulders, looking nonplussed,

"Dunno; hope it wasn't anything I did"; _oops_; already he knew he'd said the wrong thing, he didn't even need to see the smile flicker across the hedgehog's lips,

"Oh believe me I highly doubt it was anything you did".

"That's enough of that", Amy stepped in to stop the fledgling verbal duel before it could develop, hiding the fact that she was as desperate to know the reason behind Mighty's previous shrieks as anyone else present with an accomplished profession's ease, "stop embarrassing him, remember Big's a really special case in situations like this, and why are you grinning like that?"

"Hmm?" Preoccupied with thoughts about what was probably going on outside and dreaming up some of the less-than-complimentary comments Mighty could well be making out there, it took Tails a couple of seconds to work out that Amy had directed that question at him, "oh, I was just, er…"

"Yesss?" _He's up to something_; having known the fox before him for the better part of eight years he wouldn't have swapped for anything else in the world, Sonic was blessed with an instinctive knowledge of when his younger brother had something he'd rather keep quiet. To his surprise though, rather than try and cover it up, Tails instead took the bold step of coming forwards almost brazenly and admitting his suspicions,

"Well put it like this, and before I start I'll say I'm saying nothing else beyond what I say next", the fox leaned forwards as everyone else was digesting his previous statement, the conspiratorial air around him dragging everyone else in like a vortex of gravity, "I'll just say I've got a good idea I know who's just rung, and if it is who I think it is, take it from me Mighty's got a good reason to be outside now".

"Why?" _Knew someone would ask_; luckily it had been Cream's pert little mouth rather than Sonic's massive one that had opened and as such, Tails could be a little gentler in letting her down,

"What did I say earlier"; the rabbit's ears swayed as she shook her head, the movement mirror almost imperceptibly by Tails as she did so as the movement fascinated him as it always seemed to do,

"Right, sorry"; _well I'm not – holding up on us are you pal? Well_; drawing himself back and folding his arms, Sonic blinked a couple of times in preparation for what was to come; _not on my watch!_

XXX

"You've got a bloody nerve calling me Knucklehead"; hoping her hiss would be enough to carry down the line to him at the same time as not be overheard by those still inside Big's home. There was a moment of snowy static from the other end of the transmission and she thought for a moment that she'd been cut off before there was an almost grated chuckle from the other end and the guardian's voice filtered through,

"-ce Rouge got ho- of me, I've got - lot of bloody nerves", the armadillo cut off her retort at the last minute, stewing for a second as she ran that sentence over in her head and deduced from it that she still had some friends on the island in the sky, "listen, I want to…"

"So do I; you think you've got problems now you just wait until New Year".

"…Sh- up!" It was a brave shout from a Mobian with absolutely no reason to expect the recipient of his call to keep listening but it seemed to work as she stayed on the line, "I'm apologising n- just for –king up like I did, but for ma-g you go after Vec and not having the ba- to stand up –nd take the rap myself".

"Damn right", the armadillo growled even if, at almost the exact second she spoke to the echidna again the lighter side of herself was able to look back over what had happened with something like a laugh – after all, it had been a fantastically well-worked and cunningly thought-out trick, "but, I guess you had your reasons; why me though, what did I do?"

"You didn't, V- did; he hid –e Master so I go- him back th-ugh you"; _right, now it makes kind of sense_; "so I'm –ry".

"Not yet you're not", the armadillo promised with an almost defeated sigh, deflated by the realisation that she really could take an embarrassment as monstrous as that as a joke at the end of the day, "but I will, with very ill-grace, accept your apology".

"Great; just pa- you over to Sh- who-must-be-obeyed, cou- you tell her I –g?"

"Er yeah; Knuckles what…" she cut her question off as a thin, piping kind of whistle reached her ear, nothing like any other kind of noise she'd ever heard on the phone. She strained her ears to try and place the sound, only to suddenly recoil at a heavy, final kind of thump that echoed inside her head, giving her a sudden case of the shivers as she tried desperately to work out where that had come from. _Did Knuckles just fall over, or, no he must have dropped his phone – yeah_; she could hear him picking it back up and gave herself a pat on the back for such quick thinking before the next voice cut her off,

"Hello?" There was no way a voice as cultured, collected or feminine as that could have belonged to Knuckles, so that meant it had to be,

"Rouge?"

"Mighty?" The armadillo's surprise was reflected back at her, both ladies trying to figure out what was going on, Rouge leading the way as she inadvertently held more of the pieces that the fourth member of the Chaotix did, "what are you, oh hang on", this time she did actually take the phone away from her ear and stare at it, wondering why the bat's voice had suddenly gone from surprised to cold as stone, "just bear with me a second".

"Sure", Mighty couldn't think of anything else to say so said only that, eyebrows raised perplexed as she replaced her phone at her ear; the was a brief pause before she heard Rouge again, the guardian's voice much more tinny and distant this time,

"Nice try but you're still not getting in. Humph", with a crackle, Mighty heard her friend's voice properly again, "sorry about this Mich, hope he didn't bug you too much – he did apologise didn't he?"

"Umm, yes he did", the armadillo said carefully before biting the bullet and diving in headlong, "but, er, how'd you know that, and where are you anyway".

"I'm at home", the bat replied, this time with a little more a dark laugh in her voice as she finally filled her friend in on the situation, "but after what he did to you earlier, Knuckles isn't".

"What? Where is he?"

"Somewhere close by I assume, he just lobbed his phone in through the window", no doubt about it this time, there was definitely more than a whiff of black merriment in the former spy's voice as she finished, "I've kicked him out".

The bark that echoed throughout the swamp was fortunately quickly stifled, Mighty clapped a hand over her mouth as she doubled over; the look on Knuckles' face must have been an absolute picture when his normally loving if independent wife had presented him with a set of bags and an impromptu eviction notice. _No, get a grip on it_; forcing her hitching chest to slow down and swallowing her laughter, the armadillo tried to pack a little sympathy vote into her next comment even if her soul was celebrating that the smarmy echidna had finally gotten his comeuppance good and proper,

"Aww poor little Knuckie, out there on his own in the dark and the cold"; _perfect, I hope it snows tonight, no in fact I hope it hails – please God, if you're up there and listening, send me hailstones the size of marbles all night long, you being a just and fair Lord in all things_; "you didn't have to on my account – believe me I've got plenty of nasty ways to make him suffer mapped out in Technicolor".

"I don't doubt it, but to be honest I fancied a bit of a break anyway, this just makes a good cover for a night on my own for a change. Still, I'm leaving this one up to you – as a guardian I'm honour-bound to repay the slight my somewhat less than completely balance spouse did you, so how long you want him to stay out there?"

"Rouge", the armadillo was genuinely shocked, "you can't let me dictate how you run your marriage! It'd be churlish of me to even think about telling you how long you've got to stay away from your nearest and dearest; I just couldn't make that sort of call. Reckon you could last for another night?" _Knew you'd never resist it_; up on Angel Island, the bat broke into a deep smile as Mighty eventually capitulated to temptation – though the bat wouldn't strictly take any notice of her suggestion, that didn't mean Mighty would ever find out she'd been cheated of the revenge Rouge was offering her,

"I reckon I could, but just two nights away – boy are you going easy on him".

"Not a chance"; _hello_; just this once Rouge dared believe she'd managed to unlock the saucy prankster that Mighty kept so carefully hidden most of the time – she would rumble with the best of them verbally and certainly physically, but very rarely did she stoop to conniving with a friend to set someone up for a fall, "just throw me back to him; I'm going to tell him it's a lot longer, you act up one more night to get him nervous, then bang – any money he'll be at your beck and call for a week".

"Right on sister; I owe you one", mind already thinking about how well she could word taking back her husband as the battle of a woman torn between friend and family, Rouge made to say goodnight to the armadillo, "ready to go flying again?"

"Launch me when you're ready"; after another minute of whistling and a thankfully more muted thump, the armadillo heard herself being picked up again; rather than give Knuckles a chance to talk, she immediately delivered the coup de grace, "well you better write to Santa for a new winter blanket and thermos flask Knucklehead – gonna be a long, cold lonely Christmas for you". Before the stunned echidna had a chance to reply, she'd hung up and switched her phone off.

Slipping the appliance back into her pocket, Mighty tilted her head back as much as she shell would let her and breathed in a deep, sweet breath of the cooling swamp air, releasing the captive breath as a happy, contented sigh as she felt the planes of karma rumbled back to an overall flat shape with an audible click. Satisfied with her night's work, she admitted herself a luxurious stretch before turning back towards her lodgings for the evening and opening the door; a second later she closed it again, going beet red at the sudden ironic cheers from Amy and Cream, Big's would be suggestive grin, Sonic's wolf-whistle and a meek, pitiful excuse that continued to crawl its way through the wood towards her,

"Sorry Mighty, they stared it out of me".

A/N – Sorry, sorry, busy life and then some – caught up with an old friend I haven't seen for five or so years, trying to juggle work and becoming one of the heads of a new fledgling company as well as family birthdays really puts a squeeze on the time available. Still, hope this was good enough and look forwards to seeing you all for the next chapter.


	5. Chapter 5 So Now You Know

Chapter 5 – So Now You Know…

A/N: So they've bidden farewell to their friends, but how will our happy couple cope when one of them has to say farewell to his family for a little while? And will a new admission about the family he's going to be visiting put him off at all? Read on to find out!

_No, there is just no way she's feeling a hundred percent_; squeezing himself back through the lounge door, Big caught sight of his partner's face this latest time and saw through the main expression of attentiveness, where she was listening to his mother's lamentation of her day at work and how her back had flared up again, into the recesses of her thoughts; _something's not quite right, and it's not just the journey here, she's been like this since we left Station Square_. As he retook his own seat heavily, sitting down just in front of the settee as he normally did when he was home to let his father rest his daily newspaper between his ears, the cat was marginally grateful that despite all her protestations to the contrary Mighty wasn't all that bad an actress; though he could tell something was eating her up just under the surface, the message appeared to be well concealed from the remained of his family – even her voice seemed to disguise the undercurrent of worry he could see flowing though her like a rip tide.

"Blimey so it's not just been us in the wars then", she was even able to laugh as Tia, back braced by an extra pillow on her normal chair, glanced over with a stretched, rueful grin, "I mean I thought it was bad enough when Rouge came down with the sniffles again but whatever that was it was nothing compared to what nailed Charmy. Poor little guy was so ill he literally couldn't get out of bed for a few days, and he was coughing, all the time", she shuddered, the harsh, retching rasps making her screw up her face as she remembered sitting up through the night with the rest of the Chaotix as they gathered around their youngest member, the young bee's body attempted to throw off the infection that had afflicted it, "sounded like someone was scraping out his vocal chords with a file, it must have hurt him". In unison, Sophie and Chloe winced as the images of the stricken bee were conjured in their minds by the armadillo's descriptions,

"Urgh, sounds delightful".

"Believe me it wasn't"; _I think Vector was about ready to drag him to a doctor if it had gone on any longer_; the crocodile had certainly confided such plans to her when Charmy had finally, mercifully fallen into slumber and relief from the pain of his disease, his concern for his team mate and close friend overriding the bee's irrational fear of men in white coats, "he was white-faced all the time, exhausted if he did much more than get out of bed, felt cold as death and looked worse, barely slept because he was hacking so much and lost his appetite completely; not a diet I'd ever want to go on I can assure you".

"Me neither", Bill chipped in, folding up his paper with practised ease and giving his son an affectionate tap on the ear with the publication to say thanks for acting as an impromptu paper table, "had the 'flu myself once; felt like death warmed up for the better part of three weeks but, it's strange really. When it goes", he shrugged his shoulders, perplexed at the mysterious ways of the influenza virus, "it just, goes – you wake up one morning wondering why you're hungry enough to eat a horse and why you're still tired after being asleep all night. It's a funny thing that".

"About the only thing funny about the 'flu", Big commented as his father stood up and excused himself, looking to start the dishes as his wife was out of action due to her sciatica returning in the recent past, "still, it was lucky it hadn't hit a few days earlier, he'd have missed Lara's night out before he recovered".

"No he wouldn't", Mighty said with a chuckle, this one not forced like most of her earlier smiles and laughter had been, "we'd have had to nail him to his bedposts to stop him getting to that no matter how low he was feeling. But he was starting to perk back up just before then; like Bill said it just went, though thankfully this didn't last as long as his bout must have. But yeah, one day he was flat on his back the next day, about three or four days before I'd got our tickets finalised and booked, I went into the kitchen and there he was, fishing some cereal out of the cupboard for the first time in a week and a half, said he felt hungry. The day after that he was walking around fine, just had a couple of coughs all day; Vector was all for calling it a modern-day miracle and consigning it as a Chaotix holy day last thing I heard". Both twins laughed, even Tia cracking a smile from her seat as Big stood up, tipped the armadillo a wink and headed into the kitchen after his father; as soon as he was through the door his face became more serious and he bent his mind to the task of finding a suitable time to ask Mighty what was troubling her. _Normally I'd be tempted to say it was Charmy, but she said he was better long before she came down to me – I need to know if there's anything I can do._

That was his main concern – someone he was very attached to was under duress and he had to try to relieve that pressure somehow; unfortunately, quite how he was supposed to do that was a different kettle of fish. With his family around, however much he might have loved them, privacy was going to be hard to come by; in fact the only thing he could think of was another discreet visit to her bedroom just before he went to bed himself. _Right, we go for a compromise then_; the cat made a quick decision on the journey between kitchen and lounge, examining the choice he'd made and finding it, if not flawless, certainly holding more water than any of his other plans; _if I can't think of anything better before tonight I go for that one, but it's the last-ditch solution_. With that issue settled, he scrubbed all the doubt and concern from his face and squeezed past his father, taking up the dish cloth and setting about the task he'd set himself at the same time as discuss trivial matters with his direct ancestor, never knowing that his plan about what to do had a single, fatal problem.

Someone else had made their own plan, one that worked on a much short time-scale than his own.

XXX

It was as the family as a whole was about to settle in for the night that, after drumming heels on the base of the settee for a second, Mighty gave a sigh that echoed throughout the living room; as she stood up, the armadillo gave a stretch and, aware of the glances she was getting from the other occupants of her overnight accommodation, remarked off-handedly,

"Sorry, just need to stretch my legs a bit – anyone know a decent local walk around here?"

"A walk?" Sophie looked perplexed for a second before shooting a glance out of the window, "it's pitch black out there, not to mention cold; sure you can't wait 'til morning?"

"Perfectly", the Chaotix said with a chuckle, giving the younger cat a wink from the corner of her eye, "unless you want me starting up my sleepwalking again. I think Esp still flushes white when I remind him what happened the first couple of nights I joined up with the Chaotix; I don't remember any of it but I'm reliably informed that I barged into his bedroom in the night, full zombie-mode, arms outstretched and moaning, the full works"; _just what I was after_; seeing both twins trying hard to bite down on smiles, the armadillo knew she was onto a winner as she finished her spur-of-the-moment story, "before conking out on the carpet, snoring away merrily and away with the fairies again. You want that to happen tonight?" She gave a rictus grin, Sophie cottoning onto the act easily and beginning back away as though fearful, "you want to lay awake, shaking in terror at every breath of the wind, every noise of the night in case it's me, fast asleep but still able to do all sorts of nasty, dangerous things to those who never saw them coming…?"

"Alright, point made", Chloe had cracked first, a shudder running through her as the implications of the armadillo running rogue through the house in the dead of night made her mind tremble, "if a quick twenty-minuter round the streets'll stop that one I'm all for it".

"Me too; Big", the eldest of Tia's children perked up from where he'd had his eyes on Mighty and as such missed the relief on her features as his mother continued, "you remember the way?"

"Like it was yesterday; come on then trouble"; _says you_; the armadillo cocked her head a minute before gradually acquiescing to her boyfriend's remark and sliding past him to gather her shoes from the shoe cupboard, hearing the cat behind her speak again, "right guys, won't be that long; if anything at all goes wrong, in any respect, I'll just thieve Mighty's phone and let you know where we are and what happened, okay?"

"Attaboy son, you look after her out there; likewise you Might", the armadillo held back a snort of laughter as she heard Bill raise his voice, "take care of my boy while you're gone".

"No problem", she called back, standing tall and heading for the front door just as Big exited the lounge;_ I know – trust me I'll explain everything when we're out there_; and that did mean everything – as his suspicious glance left her for a minute as he went to collect his shoes, Mighty's face fell as she knew she was in for a much less than comfortable half-hour or so. _Still, too far in to back out now_; and that was certainly true – she heard the shoe cupboard close behind her and felt, rather than saw, the huge cat move up behind her; for a second she was tempted to bottle the attempt there and then but now, she had to hold firm and instead reached out, grasping the door handle firmly and twisting it downwards,

"Okay"; her voice was far too loud and brittle for her own liking but she had no choice but to brazen it out; even if she was to think of retreat even at this late stage, Big's body blocked the road to safety, "see everyone in a minute". There were a few murmurs of ascent and farewell but she barely heard them, bolting instead towards safety and the encompassing shroud of the night to help obfuscate her true intentions on this walk into the light of truth.

XXX

As always, at the very last instant the words on the tip of his tongue died and he hastily swallowed his sentence, caught in the same conundrum that had snared him for the past five or ten minutes, each one stretching into a yawning gulf of eternity between himself and the Mobian walking not three feet from the side of him. For her part the armadillo looked to be in a world not too dissimilar to his own; not sure what to say instead it came out all wrong; _so what do we do now, and just for the record why am I here in the first place? Has something happened between her family and her, or between us_; of all the fears the cat could feel it was that one that made his flesh creep the most, that for some reason he and Mighty would simply just drift apart like ships in the night and simply forget, or in his case refuse to register any further that what had happened in the time they'd known each other had been so special. Such fears and dire thoughts were a spur to him and with that eventual reality potentially hanging over his head, Big screwed up his courage again, desperate to ask this one single, simple question,

"So"; _huh, that wasn't me – I never said a word_; it was only when he heard the sigh from the side of him that he realised his up until now silent companion had voiced the first word, Mighty's face sombre in the reflected streetlight as she continued, "good to see the rest of your pride looking so well?"

"Err, umm, yeah", completely tripped up by that statement, Big was bereft of any sort of guidance about what to think or say next and simple answered with the humble truth, "they're all keeping alright". Mighty's shoulders gave a little shake, though her smile grew, if anything, more serious, tinged with a hint of sadness perhaps; if she hadn't spoken quite as soon as she did, Big would have reached across the gap between them and warmed her nearest shoulder with his hand,

"They are all right; you know Big, every time I see your family it hits me the same way; right here", the armadillo's fist clenched over her chest, just above her heart; _what does – is there something we're doing wrong, or that she's not comfortable with…?_; "Bill especially – he looks after your sisters…well", her head fell, Big almost certain she was about to fall into tears for a minute as her breath hitched and she had to cough throatily before carrying on in a strained, choked speech, "they don't know what's lucky, or how lucky they are".

"Mighty, what's all this about?" Seeing her suffer like this touched off emotions that even his flawless memory couldn't relive; as well as the greatest peaks of hope and happiness that he had been fortunate to enjoy, the deepest troughs of enmity and loss were alien to his memory and therefore unnerving to him as he had little experience with them. This time however, he knew what he should do and did so without hesitation or self-consciousness – Mighty froze for a second as his arm wrapped right around her, its length such that it could lap around the side of her shell and tap the point of her chin, lifting it upwards gently as she relaxed at the contact, trying to dismiss the tears that the admission she was going to make had already wrung from the corner of her eyes,

"Come on", his soft, even slightly chiding purr was her salvation, the path his thumb traced just beneath her eye and across her cheek lighting up a wan smile as she drank in such strength at a time such as this, "whatever you've got to say it can't be worth this".

"Maybe, maybe not", she managed to say with an almost embarrassed laugh before she plucked up the courage to roll her eyes upwards and face him again, "Big, what do you know about my family?"

_What do I know?_; had it slipped her mind that he'd never forget whatever she'd told him? Obviously it must have done; not taking his bemusement-narrowed eyes off of the armadillo's face, Big directed his energy inwards and delved back through his experiences, turning over the catalogue of information Mighty had divulged about her ancestry and compiling it together to answer her curious query. He was so focussed on this task that, aside from the street lamp he nearly walked through, it was only when he finished this work that he took a step back, saw the virtual thickness of the mental document and internally gaped at the sight awaiting him,

"You, you're an only child"; _more, there has to be more_; if there was he could find no more than these few tiny crumbs, "you've got a large family that originated from Scotland, which is why you always go back every year, and, and…"

"That's about it, that's all I've ever told you, ever really told anyone", reaching up and around, Mighty gripped onto the cat's brawny arm and dragged downwards, garnering herself a little more support now when she needed it more than ever, "Big, the truth of the matter is I, uh, I'm not proud of what I'll say next but I think it's the truth – I just don't really like my mother and father".

XXX

It was a sticking point and no mistake; even without thinking about it Big knew he he'd never before heard anyone say those precise words before – words to that effect maybe, but never those words themselves. The thought of not being able to communicate, to have to go on with the knowledge that your family, and immediate family at that, wasn't really there with you at the time; it was a concept so outlandish to him that he was unable to come up with an answer to it, a point of view to see it with – he merely stood stock-still, the thought rendering him unable to act any further, Mighty herself finally speaking again just to break the silence,

"I know; I get this every time I say that, but just understand I respect them both, I always have", that was the point she was keenest of all to emphasise, ironically one of her father's favourite lines coming back to remind her of that obligation she could never relinquish towards her flesh and blood, "they, or at least dad was, very much of the opinion that respect was mandatory, liking was optional".

"How? Michelle, I don't understand"; _not many people do Big, not many people do_; one of the reasons she very rarely discussed her own family was for this very reason, the fact that her relationship with her parents was more cold but cordial than honest and loving, "why don't you like them? Did they do something to, drive you away?"

"In a way, yes – it's just the way they've always been. Put it like this; your dad, Bill, he thinks the world of all three of his kids; you, Sophie and Chloe could fall headfirst into the deepest manure you could think of and you'd still smell like roses as far as he was concerned, am I right?" Totting the analogy up in his mind and wagging his head from side to side a couple of times, Big reluctantly agreed with this assumption,

"Yeah, more or less, but I don't see…"

"Well", Mighty cut him off gently, her previous experiences with her own father clouding her mind for the minute, making her teeth show up glaringly in the yellow street lights, "my father was, is, nothing like that; as far as he's concerned you make a mistake you dig your way out of it regardless of whether it was your fault or not. One time I was playing in the streets with a couple of friends, game of cricket, or maybe it was rounders, something like that, and we broke someone's window; that ever happen to you?"

"Yeah, well not breaking a window; I went over a couple of fields looking to raid orchards and chestnuts trees and occasionally a couple of branches got broken, but that's life".

"Not according to Stefan; yeah, that's my dad's name, and please, please Big"; _the last thing I need is to give him any sort of ammunition at all – chances are he'll be unbearable anyway, I'm not going to let him try to drive you away just because of something I never warned you about_; "he gets really anal about names; whenever he's about you'll have to call me Michelle, not Mich and definitely not Mighty. Same goes for my mum; if dad's within earshot she's just plain Emily and he is always, always Stefan; do not, and I'm telling you this for your own sake as well as mine, call him Steven and whatever you do never call him Steve". Taking a second to compute the many and varied instructions he'd just been given, the cat gave a gruff snort as though his breath alone could blow away the bad smell Mighty was making her father out to be,

"As mum would say, I can think of several things I'd like to call him, I just wouldn't say them in polite company", now it was Mighty's turn to snort, this time through mirth rather than disgust; _you always could brighten up any sort of day with things like that Big_; "sounds like a complete flint-heart – you were saying about your game of cricket?"

"Was I – yes I was; well if you got caught generally getting up to mischief as a kid, what happened? Say farmer Giles or whoever caught you in his apple yard and marched you to your front door by the ear-hole, what would Bill say?"

"I wouldn't dare repeat it – no, that's unkind; dad couldn't really say a lot to me because he knew whatever he said about me I'd always remember, and he was scared that if he really blew his top it'd drive us apart. But if I'd done what you did, smashed a window say, he'd probably ground me for a week and made sure I paid for part of the damages out of my pocket money". Mighty lowered her head, even now after years had past from the incident she could still see her father's imperiously-scathing glare and the shame of both that and her punishment combined made her cheeks burn once more,

"Stefan wouldn't have agreed with that; as far as he was concerned it had to have been my fault since I was there, so he completely stopped any sort of money I had, even what I earned from my first ever paper round, and made sure I couldn't go out until I'd made enough to replace the smashed window entirely". Big made a choking noise, though whether this was from disbelief or fury she didn't dare to see as she moved on, the most damning bit of the story coming up and nearly stopping the flow of her speech in its entirety as she relived every one of those cold, rainy nights again,

"But worst of all was, until I'd made all this money, he made sure I had the window in my bedroom open every night; there was a safety grille so no-one could sneak in, but every night I could hear the traffic, the wind; even the night we had a thunderstorm and the wind was blowing in enough water to sink a battleship I couldn't close it. He said if I knew the inconvenience of having a window put in I'd be far less likely to inflict it on anyone else", she was so deeply immersed in her story now, so drawn into her catalogue of dislike against her stern and completely unbending father that she never heard Big's claws scrape against her shell as the cat by the side of her growled, picturing the scene and made wrathful because of it, "and it was always the same; he never had to do or even say anything but I knew, every time I did something wrong I could feel he wasn't happy; bad grades, talking back, on my own or with friends, didn't matter – if he wasn't happy because of something to do with me, I knew about it and he made sure I knew".

"He", hearing his own voice made Big choke off; only when he was sure the thunderous snarl within it was exercised did he try to speak again, "he did things like that, just for you being you? No wonder you don't like him – how could you even respect…"

"He was, and still is fair", once more Mighty's words slid across his own smoothly, "if he got it wrong he always apologised, and if someone else said I'd done something wrong and I could prove I hadn't he always backed me to the hilt. Remember I told you I whacked that annoying prat at my school?"

"The one who kept mouthing off about your mum?"

"Yep; I hit him for that, just sticking up for myself and my family and he in turn stuck up for me – he dealt with the flak from the school and the prat's mother and I never heard anything else about it. It's complicated Big"; _so much so that I still don't know where I stand with him_; "my dad's cold, I don't know why and I'm not stupid enough to try and ask, must just have been the way he was brought up and I can't get on with that, but at the same time he's honourable and I have to respect him for it. I've given up trying to figure out the best way to deal with him I really have; I just had to make sure you knew what you were getting yourself into before we set off".

"Well I know now", the cat rumbled quietly, stooping a second later as he finished speaking; Mighty felt a jolt like an electric shock shoot through her as he nuzzled his cheek against hers, "and if your dad's anything like you're making him out to be I'm so glad you didn't turn out like him it's not real".

It sank in slowly, luxuriously; the armadillo breathed in, then out, then in again, each repetition carefully monitored and controlled in case she started to lose control of herself in light of what the cat had said. She had just told him the worst there was to hear as far as she was concerned and all he'd done had been to turn it on its head and see the good point of it; _that I'm still me – Stefan couldn't change that no matter how much he tried_; with a last shuddering sigh she reached to the side of her, arm as far around Big's middle as she could manage as she tried to draw the cat towards her, gain further reassurance from the massive rug of warm purple tabby she was so proud to call a partner,

"I know, and I'm grateful too; anyway", only now did she feel confident enough to face him again knowing he felt the way he did about her misgivings, "he can't be that bad for long; once we get to the bash he has to behave, the others won't tolerate him acting like a wet blanket for the better part of a fortnight no matter how much he might want to sulk".

"Good"; _mental note – the second we're there if he has been an ass to Mighty you loudly call him Steve or whatever else he hates being called when everyone else is listening_; having lodged that idea in his mental file, Big recalled something else the armadillo had said earlier and, loathe though he was to have to travel across ground Mighty evidently found uncomfortable, had no choice but to ask, "what about you mum though – did you say her name was Emily?"

"Yeah, but only when Stefan's around; if he's anywhere else it's Emma, Millie or something like that", Mighty informed him gleefully, face brightening for a second before becoming overcast with grey doubt once more, "but it's her I feel sorry for more than anything; I bet dad's just steamrollered her into accepting anything he does or says as gospel; you'll see, she never says boo to a goose, won't hear a word being said against him. Sometimes I get so mad I just want to smash down the door and drag her out of there but I know she won't come", Mighty shook her head sadly at the image she'd seen a hundred times before, "she'll never leave him because she loves him too much, and he loves her as well in his own way – he just never says it, not like your folks anyway".

"Tell me about it, though that can get embarrassing at times", Big countered somewhat, though for the most part he merely stayed as what he was, a rock for Mighty to attach herself to and spill out her frustrations and fears in her own time.

"I think I'd rather be embarrassed about my folks getting on well in public than ashamed that they never even hold hands or hold eye contact out in the street. That's the way they are Big, and so help me even though I hate that coldness, and the fact that they barely acknowledge I exist now I'm on my own two feet, I can't just bring myself to tear away from them completely. It's mostly just for mum's sake – I don't think she'd go to this every year if I didn't make it out as such a big deal and her not going would mean dad would send her completely around the twist".

"I understand that – everyone needs a break at some stage, even someone as patient as she seems to be", Big sighed in his own time, digesting the new information in his own time as his pace ate up the pavement in long, loping strides, "I'm first to admit that I'm no expert but as far as I can tell when families are concerned, there's no such thing as an easy situation; it's always as complex as hell". Mighty chortled and tapped his arm gently,

"Too right; I'm easy-going enough as it is, it's just the rest of them more than make up for it", hugging herself in again, feeling a hundred times lighter now that she had shed that load from her mind, the armadillo could face the world again with a clean conscience; she'd given Big all the warning she reasonably could so now it was up to him to take what he saw or leave what he saw for himself; _and if he leaves it_; in one way she hoped it wouldn't come down to this while in another, more rebellious streak she was excitedly anticipating the battle of her heart that might yet develop; _there's a damn good chance I might well do the same!_

XXX

_Ummm, wow_; as she stretched off, the armadillo reached out instinctively to grab her watch from the floor beside her, the coldness of the metal helping to bring her vision into focus as she blinked at the timepiece; _best nights' sleep I've had in ages – not even tired and ten minutes before the alarm to boot_. Overall though, as she rubbed her hands down her face and drew in a second huge yawn, Mighty reckoned that she was due a little good fortune; after all, disregarding Bill's generous offer of a lift to the airport, the hop across country and ocean on a public transport jet was pretty much guaranteed to leave her lumbered with two more bags coming off the flight than she'd ever had stashed away inside it. _Ain't that the truth_; unzipping herself from her cotton cocoon she let the top half of the undone sleeping bag flop open, accepting the rush of chilling air onto her front with a brisk shudder and low whistle of shock; _ no matter what the brochure was advertising I'm pretty sure the Tornado it won't be_. Oh well, there was no point complaining about it now; like everything else she walked into that she didn't particularly enjoy, she was just going to have rumble right over it like the force of nature she was a lot of the time. Quickly standing up and bouncing on the balls of her feet just to loosen off her sleep-relaxed muscles, Mighty saw what was to come and, in the grand scheme of things, decided she was happy with what she saw; okay, the fact that her dad was going to be a complete nightmare for the two days before all four of them could make it north of the border was a real fly in the ointment, especially as she was still undecided about whether to let either of her parents know about his mnemonic uniqueness, but overall she could see the week and a half following those two days more than making up for Stefan's obtuseness. With this in her mind, Mighty double-checked the door to her temporary bedroom was securely latched up and began to think about getting changed for the rest of the day; delving into her travel bag to locate the hard-wearing but light garments she'd selected for her plane journey, her head came up with a jolt as a muffled sound came sneaking in through the far wall. _Voices, definitely the twins_; straining her ears to try and pick out specific words, Mighty licked suddenly dry lips before focussing once more on the clothes in her hands – Big's sisters were up and about, and early too, especially by their standards, something was up and she had no idea what it might be. Just as she was pulling her top up over her head, a sudden thought made her smile; _look on the bright side, can't be as bad as what happened last time those two got their heads together – no ice about for a start!_

XXX

Her good mood lasted until she got to the bottom of the stairs before it took a slight hit; almost at the same instant her nose registered the delicious scents of cooking emanating from the direction of the kitchen her stomach, knowing what would be coming barely a couple of hours from now, decided it was not going to run the risk of being caught full in the event of a little heavy turbulence and promptly shrivelled up inside her. _And I just bet Tia's put her heart and soul into this, even with her bad back_; desperately attempting to think on her feet, the armadillo wanted to come up with a plan that would let her get down a bit of breakfast at the same time as avoid any risk of the forthcoming flight making her ill or, even worse, reliant on the airline buffet to assuage any hunger pangs that might have registered around that time if she skipped the most important meal of the day altogether. Biting her lips a little, she pondered the problem as much as she was able to before the door to the lounge was opened up in front of her and she had to put seriousness aside for a moment, instead chuckling helplessly as Big tromped out of his temporary bedroom looking like he'd been dragged through a hedge backwards,

"Don't", the cat told her with a bale glance that, of course, only increased her mirth, "I hate that settee having a metal frame; if I'm not in the exact centre the static frizzes me up like a stick of candyfloss". Mischief glinting in her eyes, the armadillo took a pace forwards and smacked her lips hungrily,

"Umm-um, sticky as candyfloss and twice as sweet I'll bet". Pausing in his attempts to comb at least some of the mess back into a semblance of order, Big caught her eye, his inner thoughts mirroring her own to a certain degree,

"Maybe, maybe not; I wouldn't know – contrary to what you may have been told, we cats don't actually clean ourselves with our tongues any more".

"So what do you use then?" _Gotcha_; he knew she wouldn't have been able to resist asking and pointed up at the stairs she'd just descended from,

"A power shower in this case; don't tell me, you lot up there still think standing under a waterfall's the way to go?" Pinching her face into an expression of disgust, Mighty gave the cat a swift, light backhander as he eased himself past her, her voice chasing him up the stairs,

"Yeah as a matter of fact it is; the water's clean and crisp and to top it all off you can really get a lather up with the soap, not like all this hardened water muck you lot are stuck with down here. Anyway, you go careful", Big paused in his assent and shifted his gaze down to her, face looking drawn and long-suffering as she finished, "if you're still carrying even half the static it took to get that much fur sticking upright, you'll jump in the shower and next thing you know you won't have any fur left and be wondering what that strange burning smell is".

"Oh ha-ha", the cat said drolly as Mighty mimed the effect of a lightning strike singeing off his winter coat; suddenly his hand whipped downwards, the armadillo jumping up a fraction of a second later as a static shock pinged her arm, "hopefully that'll have got rid of enough to spare my pride and joy". Rubbing her bicep, she scowled back up at his retreating back before shaking her head and moving back towards the kitchen; somehow her appetite seemed to have perked back up a little in the short interlude she'd had talking with her boyfriend.

As she'd expected, Tia had outdone herself as a spread that even Vector might have had serious reservations about finishing himself was laid out at the table, though thankfully as far as the armadillo was concerned at least one corner of the gargantuan spread of toast, rolls and fried food could easily be accounted for by the twin that was getting stuck into it with gusto. Seeing her family's guest as she pulled out a chair for herself, Sophie smiled at the same time as submerge the toast she'd piled high on her plate under an ocean of baked beans,

"Hi Mighty", she looked forwards, the armadillo raising an eyebrow at this closer scrutiny, "that's better; looks like you got a decent kip last night". _True enough_; she had slept well and, energised by such an observation, reached across the table after snagging a plate from the little pile in front of her,

"Yep, decent kip then and…", seeing where she was going, Sophie set her plate down and used her knife and fork to ease one of the still-steaming cooked fish onto the armadillo's plate, "…an even better kipper now".

"Ah, glad someone else likes them".

"Mum!" At the sight of Tia entering with a saucepan held deftly in her hand, Sophie let the kipper go, Mighty at full stretch only just able to keep it half-on her plate as the younger Mobian rushed over and tried to wrest the cooking utensil from her mother's hand, "you don't carry anything! What did the doctor say – any lifting or carrying could set it off again".

"Shout at me much more, young lady, and you'll be the one needing a doctor"; Sophie fell back a pace at the sudden slight snarl in the elder cat's voice as Tia moved towards the table purposefully, the saucepan still in her hand and used to top up the reservoir of beans that her daughter had recently drained, "I know what I'm doing, and anyway he said I could move onto light work during my most recent check up – somehow I doubt a tin and a half of cooked beans is going to break me in half". Looking past where Tia was fusing over the table itself and seeing that Sophie was looking a little heartbroken at having her good intentions thrust back in her face, Mighty felt it her duty to try and put a little positive spin on her decisions,

"I should hope not, though technically she's got a bit of a point T", the elder cat looked up at her as she shrugged, "after all, you've got kids to do all the running about for you now – why have a dog and bark yourself? And yes, by the way, I am a big fan of kippers in the morning, just the rest of my motley crew can't stand them".

"Isn't one of them a crocodile? I thought they lived on fish, when they couldn't get anything else that is".

"Not this one", Mighty shook her head fondly, "we pretty much have to hold him down to get a cod-liver oil capsule down his neck – he will not touch them with a bargepole".

"Some Mobians – what can you do?"

"Well there was one time I blended up a couple of tuna steaks and mixed them in with a shepherd's pie, but that's about all I can do to try and make sure they get their essential oils. Definite lack of Omega-3 with some of them I can tell you".

"Blended with a shepherd's, have to remember that one when we get a few of the more, um, finicky members of the pride over", Tia said in a plotting manner, Mighty almost certain she could see the idea being noted down and stuck into the cat's memory banks before she shook herself and looked back at her daughter, "anyway sorry about that Soph, I just get fed up with it all, especially with your father fussing over me like some idiot mother hen and treating me like I'm made of glass".

"No problem", the younger cat mumbled, still not directly looking at her mother as she reached for her knife and fork once more; not quite able to say anything else, Tia merely nodded at her seated family member and headed back into the kitchen; it was as the door swung shut behind her tail that Mighty made her move,

"Don't panic about that", as Sophie looked up the armadillo took hold of her hand, a soft squeeze helping her transmit her message more effectively as she continued speaking, "it is annoying with a condition like that; Big gets it a lot with Mr Trenton, he was telling me. It's hard for the old boy to have to get used to the fact that he can't do what he's been doing for the past God-only-knows how many years and occasionally he gets a bit touchy about it; your mum's just the same".

"I guess", she was still a little unsure but her confidence seemed to have grown a little, "but I was just trying to help…"

"I know, I know", the armadillo explained patiently, sympathetic with the youngster and hoping she could make the situation she now faced a little bit more understandable, "believe me Tia probably feels rotten now shouting at you; just remember that no matter what she says you're her daughter and she'll love you for it, most of the time anyway". Seeing her smirk, the cat took offence and batted her shoulder warningly,

"Shut up"; _perfect_; even as she made to defend herself against the onslaught from Big's younger sister Mighty gave herself a pat on the back for her quick thought; _and so_; finally catching Sophie's flailing palm she pointedly indicated her breakfast plate and the two settled down to a much more amicable meal, joined a minute later by Tia in a much more genial mood;_ onto breakfast, and all good friends_.

XXX

Halfway through one of the few slices of toast she'd managed to convince herself to nibble through and trying equally as hard to convince both Tia and her only present sibling that she really, really didn't want any more to eat, Mighty suddenly became aware of a presence looming large behind her and looked over her shoulder; a second later and having hastily swallowed her half-masticated mouthful, the armadillo let out a loud exclamation and pointedly indicated Big as he slumped into a seat by the side of her,

"Ah-ha, good to see you looking slightly more presentable these days; at least now I won't have to think up a good story for mum as to how the guest I invited to our annual celebration ended up looking like something off Dr Frankenstein's slab". Reaching across her for his plate, she wasn't all that surprised to feel a sharp rap on the back of her shell as he took exception to her exaggeration of his just-out-of-bed hairstyle,

"Depends if I've got the window seat or not – close range lightning strikes could count for plenty you know".

"You know", Mighty replied a second later, pondering something whilst fingering her chin, "you could be right; at least if you're sat there I'll have a decent shield against any pyrotechnics, or pretty much anything else come to that". _No way is she getting away with that!_;

"Oi you, no joking about my bro's bed hair", Sophie cut in with a vicious stabbing motion with her fork, "just because you've not got enough of a coat to be affected by it doesn't mean you should laugh at others who are".

"Ouch", the armadillo recoiled as though jabbed by the cheap hit at her lack of fur, "just plain ouch".

"And serves you right shelly", Big couldn't help but chip in at the expense of yet more of his girlfriend's pride, "if anything the fur frizz holds enough charge to make you go ouch at least a couple more times". His finger inched forwards, stopped only when Mighty raised one of her own in an arresting motion,

"I wouldn't pal, not unless you want to lose that winter coat of yours one hair at a time at any rate. And anyway you", Sophie sat back languidly in her seat as Mighty indicated her next, "I might not have a lot of hair compared to this family of furballs, but at least I don't have to go through the rigmarole of a shedding season". Satisfied she'd landed her hit, the Chaotix sat back and watched the reaction to her words; _come on, come on I bet you just can't…_; and indeed it appeared that Sophie couldn't – the younger cat's mouth opened once, then again twice but no words issued forth, her mind confounded by the stark truth in the armadillo's words. In fact so bad was her floundering that it forced Tia to divert her course from the bread roll she was buttering to come steaming to her daughter's rescue,

"True enough Mighty; I sometimes think that my vacuum cleaner sees February and March on the calendar and starts to cry", the armadillo snickered a little at the analogy as Big was suddenly forced to prick his ears, "and before you start son, go kick your father and the other one of these two out their beds will you – I'd do it myself only my back might take offence at any sudden energetic movements". With a reluctant huff, Big put down his recently acquired cutlery and slouched upright, shuffling towards the kitchen door, Mighty's eyes on him the whole time as the armadillo felt her curiosity aroused to a certain degree,

"I take it Chloe and Bill suffer from S.S.S.S.S. then, though obviously not to the same extent as the poor sap who was first recorded with the condition". Two glances were rapidly exchanged and, seeing her own bafflement easily mirrored, Sophie gave a careful roll of the shoulders and decided to be the one to put her head in the proverbial tiger's mouth,

"And if we knew just what the hell S.S.S.S.S. stood for we might be able to help you out there; up until that point as far as we know they're both clear of pretty much everything, except of course Chloe's got the dreaded lurgy as always". Mighty tried to unsuccessfully hold back a snigger as Tia almost casually flicked out a hand that skimmed her daughter's closest ear; _yeah, better let them know – if anything the Smurf had this coming with the level of the mockers he put on Big and I just before we left. Ruddy fox not being able to keep his mouth shut!_;

"S.S.S.S.S. is Sonic's Saturday Stasis and Sensory Shutdown; a condition unique to a certain blue hedgehog living in Station Square and right now, I can assure you, dozing his life away in bed – he absolutely refuses to get up on a Saturday morning. Amy's tried everything to get him moving, up to and including an ice-cube down the covers come nine o'clock". Sophie shivered and winced,

"Cor, made me shiver just thinking about that – good idea though, have to give that…"

"…a quick nip in the bud I presume?" Fortunately having enough sense to know when to make her mind up and when it had been made up for her, the younger cat grinned widely and falsely at her mother's assumption and spoke obsequiously,

"You took the words right out of my mouth there mum".

"Good, though I suppose in a way what you're thinking's right – that S.S.S-whatever you call it is not longer a unique case"; _ooh, at least one area where Sonic's not quite so special any more_; "unfortunately Chloe inherited my other half's belief that a Saturday morning lie-in is his God-give right. I tell you, if the angel start swooping down from on high and tooting their trumpets to signal the end of days, if it's a Saturday morning all they'll get out of that pair is a roll of the shoulders and half-asleep order for at least another hour or so".

"Believe me if they tried it with Sonic, or Vector for that matter now I think of it, they'd get a lot less than that, a lot less politely too", the armadillo joked, taking great pleasure out of being able to lampoon a couple of her friend's less than completely savoury habits for a change before becoming slightly more serious, "though your Bill better be up fairly soon-ish; plenty of time maybe but I won't feel confident 'til we're halfway down the runway and I'm trying to pay attention to what the air hostess is saying".

"Don't bother; I knew an air hostess once", Tia said with a contemptuous snort, "she worked in my cleaning team when the airline let her go over the winter, said it didn't need as many staff when the holiday season wasn't at its peak. She said, and these are near enough her words rather than mine, don't bother trying to remember all that rubbish about what knot to use when tying up your water vest; in the very unlikely event of all the plane's engines failing, it really won't count for a monkey's because you are all going to go into the ground like a bloody dart". Mighty set down her fork hastily as a wave of worry swept over her; trying to put a brave face on her sudden loss of confidence, she managed to conjure up a tepid smile as Sophie snorted into the remains of her baked bean lake,

"Thanks for that T", visions of flaming death and the screams of people plunging to their deaths from an ungodly number of feet in the air still fogging her thoughts cloyingly, the armadillo attempted to see the comment in a positive light, "I'll think of you when we're going down in flames and I'm screaming my head off in terror".

"Oh don't worry"; _yes I know – planes are very safe these days and the likelihood of an accident is minimalistic…_; "you won't be screaming – you'll be too busy trying to get the seat in front of you out of your mouth for that"; _…or maybe not_;

"Doing wonders for my confidence in air travel you are".

"Who'd doing what for whom now?" Another voice rumbled blearily as with a great yawn Bill entered the kitchen, looking unmistakably groggy at his uncustomary early start to the weekend and, as a consequence, reaching straight for the coffee pot, "or have I missed too much to understand it all?"

"Far too much dad", Sophie informed him cheerily before she caught sight of her sister also coming into the kitchen, looking distinctly ruffled by it being morning rather than midday, "and you, don't even think about saying anything – it'd all just go flying over your head at this time of day". Chloe said nothing, merely stomping over to where he father had finished decanting half the remaining coffee into his mug and dully accepting the pot containing the remainder of the caffeinated beverage; only when she'd tipped her head back and chugged down what was left of the drink in its entirety did she start to look even vaguely Mobian again,

"Hoo yeah, that's the stuff", with a long shiver and flicking her tail left and right, the other half of the pair of cat twins managed to take her place at the table and think about the remainder of her breakfast, "pure wake-up call and stress-buster, all in one tasty little mouthful of drink".

"I'm not surprised, I did make that pot strong enough to keep half a dozen of us happy, and those were the absolute dregs – you better clean your teeth properly after this young lady, I'm not going out anywhere with you looking like you've been a chain-smoker for the past twenty years". Chloe and Sophie both gave a snort and directed a look at their father, the older cat only deigning to give a shrug in answer,

"Us, smoke; you have got to be kidding right? Never, ever again"; _again?_;

"Again?" Mighty's mind once more stepped ahead of her manners and she was left wishing she could turn back the hands of time for a spilt-second, "I mean, uh, I never thought anyone in your family, umm…"

"We don't any more, and I seriously doubt we ever will again; we both tried and got caught – dad made sure we never tried it again".

"Seriously?" Bill's answering nod was little short of a miracle to the armadillo; _finally, might be able to break a couple of bad habits when I meet the guys in Scotland_; "how on earth did you do that; I've, that is to say several of my family light up and the rest of us have been trying forever to get them to quit – how'd you manage it?"

"Catch them young, quite literally", Chloe answered, slightly more fatalistic as she realised she was going to have to rake over this old indiscretion again, "all right, we were in the wrong and I fully admit that; we, both of us that is"; _no way am I taking the sole rap for this_; "took a quick drag behind the bike sheds when we were too young and stupid to know giving in to peer pressure's just asking for trouble; long story short, we got caught, mum and dad got called in along with the rest of the other kid's folks responsible and dad took it from there". Taking the cat girl's thinly-veiled hint, Mighty switched her gaze to where Bill had taken up his customary seat at the head of the table; when he became aware of her quietly curious gaze, he stopped flicking irritated glances at his daughters and, with a sigh of reluctance, spoke to answer her unasked question,

"Pack of Woodbines, full strength; brought it on my way home from work next day and called the two of them in; made them smoke the whole packet between them and I can guarantee you they've never been able to look at the off-licence counter without going green yet".

"You bet; we were hacking up all night and I was sick as a dog next morning…"

"That's enough, all of you!" Tia's strident call cut across the descriptions of all the gory details, "Mighty and your brother'll have to leave soon and I do not want them to go all that way with visions of you pair misbehaving stuck in their heads; talk about a bad first impression when the poor girl has to explain about us to her family".

XXX

_Never thought of that_; only at these words did the final truth actually, emotionally hit down on Mighty with all the force of a sledgehammer; _very soon, tomorrow morning in fact, I will be talking to my own mum and dad about this family, Big's family – he'll be there too, but mostly it will just be me doing the talking. What am I going to say?_; her own thoughts rendered her mute, a sudden chill creeping up her spine as she tried to recall any sort of information about the pride of cats she was now surrounded by, only to have the sheaves of her memory banks ripped out of her hands by a gale of nerve-induced timidity. She couldn't remember anything about them, or nothing that would mean much to her parents at any rate – what would they care that Sophie and Chloe were twins and younger than Big; what were they studying at school, and had they taken their options yet? What was the name of the garage Bill worked at, and more to the point what actually was his job title? Had Tia always been a cleaner or was this just a pit-stop in her career as something else? Questions and other such probing thoughts barraged her mind and, overawed by the ferocity of the sudden assault her memory and courage both dived out of sight and huddled together in the deepest recesses of her mind, leaving her bereft of anything constructive to say or do; _and won't Stefan just love that – 'how long have you been going out with him, and you don't even remember his family that well – a sure-fire recipe for a relationship lasting the course I'm sure'…_

"Mich", the sudden touch almost made her jump; only the warmth at her arm made her realise how cold her skin now felt, "you all right? You've gone white as a sheet; I could hear your plates grinding".

"Oh, forget about that", the armadillo managed to plaster on something like a half-convincing smile before meeting the concern in Big's hazel eyes, "I'm just nervous about the flight and meeting my folks again, you know the sort of thing. And your comments didn't do my confidence any sort of good either you", Tia tried to look away slyly as Mighty deliberately pointed her out, "so don't try acting innocent over there".

"As if it's in me to lie", the elder cat pointed out as her husband took his seat and reached for breakfast, his side-long glance telling the armadillo all she needed to know before he managed to spark a couple of neurones together in spite of the early hour and speak his own piece,

"Well regardless of what may or may not be in you, you pair better make sure you've got a good meal down inside the next hour or so. It's a bit of a drive but we should get there in plenty of time if we dodge most of the traffic; remembered everything?"

"Yes dad", Big said with a long-suffering sigh; _every time, every single time – doesn't matter that I've never forgotten anything in my life and mentally can never forget anything in my life_; he knew exactly what was coming and also knew it was pointless to try and avoid it,

"Got your passport?"

"Yes".

"Money?"

"Yes".

"Toothbrush?"

"Definitely, and spare as well".

"Airplane tickets?"

"Mighty's got them", deciding he needed a break from this insult of his mnemonic prowess, Big put down his knife and fork and made to excuse himself, "now if you don't mind I'm just off to get everything else packed up; you wouldn't believe the limits they've got to the size of hand luggage these days". _That should stick_; giving himself a cautious pat on the back for his quick thinking, he made to stand up and scuttle off the bathroom – he got as far as the door jamb before a sudden trilling voice made him halt,

"Biiiiiiggg"; _oh now what?_; just about refraining from hammering his forehead against the wood next to him, the massive cat managed to turn around with an expression on his face that seemed to suggest he was very seriously considering the pros and cons of making himself an only child once more,

"Yes Chloe?" Apparently unaware of the peril she was in, his sister gave the sweetest smile she could muster and succinctly flicked her finger across the table where Mighty was looking forlorn at being apparently left behind,

"Forgot your girlfriend". _Auuurrrrrgggghhhhhh!_

Several minutes later, when all the roaring, raging and frantic, jaw-aching laugher had finally run its course, all present could agree on one thing – ducking and diving out the way of her apoplectic brother had been the fastest Chloe had ever moved on a Saturday morning.

XXX

The wheels came to a gentle stop; Mighty took a second to steady herself before popping the door open and, after informing Bill that he'd parked well within the lines, stepping outside, shivering a touch at the biting wind until Big exited the car just in front of her, his mountainous personage acting as the world's most efficient wind-break to save her from the chilliness of the air. _So then, this is it_; there was a rending scream from above her, a shadow passing overhead and she glanced upwards in time to see the aircraft descending on its final approach to land, casting the car park into darkness for a split-second; _that's not ours is it? No, don't be stupid_; the irrational fear had made her check her watch, the sudden tattoo her heart had been frantically drumming starting to even out again she saw there was still a half-hour left to go before they were due to take off.

"Okay then", with a slight mechanical grating noise, Bill used his keys to pop open the boot of his car, shouting a little to be heard over the wind whistling around their ears, "let's get you on your way; open". Mighty replied with a wave as she headed towards the rear of the car and tipped the back entrance open with one finger, reaching in for her bags in almost the same motion as excitement began to tingle in her veins like an electric charge. She tried to still her breathing a little only to find it was impossible; it was finally all coming true – Christmas was just around the corner and this time she wasn't going to see the rest of her family on her own, she had someone with her like most of the others did. _Not that I don't love him for the nuisance he is but Pocket's comments about the winter wall-flower were starting to get old, and really annoying_; just because her cousin had been lucky enough to find love early in his life there was no need to rub her face in it – even if he genuinely didn't mean to cause any offence it still cut deeply.

"Mighty?" She heard the voice just behind her and knew his next question as well as she knew how to answer it,

"No I'm absolutely fine", spinning on the spot she threw her arms as far around the mammoth form of her soul-mate as she could manage, the rest of her words reaching his ears from somewhere around his solar plexus, "I'm just so bloody excited; we're finally on our way!"

"Not yet you're not, who was it said halfway down the runway would count as away?" Bill phrased the question gruffly as he reached into the back area of his vehicle and hefted one of the bags inside, cursing mildly at the weight, "blimey son, sure you haven't got your twin stuffed in here?"

"Nah, he's at home keeping an eye on things for me"; Mighty felt the hands move off her shoulders and glanced around in time to see Bill accept his son's pro-offered paw solemnly, "goodbye dad, tell mum and the twins I'll be thinking about them over Christmas, and make sure you all have a blinder between you".

"No fears there kid", the smaller cat replied shortly, looking down as though the wind had blown a little dust into his eyes, "been planning something special for this year, you'll probably hear your sisters from Scotland when they open their presents I can tell you. And you Michelle", the armadillo took no offence at his intoning of her full name, accepting its use at this solemn parting of the ways as she clasped Bill's paw with her own, leaning in as he made to chafe her cheek with his own whiskers, "you, and the rest of your family for that matter, you raise the roof for the lot of us back here. I really do hope that you have the time of your lives out there".

"With my family you can take that as a given; thank you Bill, and tell Tia the same", her tone matching his in gravity and truth, Mighty nodded her armoured head in deference to the succour and stability her boyfriend's family had imparted to her from the very beginning as the pair broke apart, "don't worry about either of us; we'll call when he touch down and send over a special Christmas broadcast, how's that?" Bill smiled before glancing up at his son once more; _better make this quick, don't want him to have to stand around watching his old man go to pieces_;

"Looking forwards to it already, but anyway", his weary fatalism sounded at least a little realistic as he checked his watch, "I best get myself gone; we were lucky with the traffic on the way down so what's the wager the cows get home before I do?"

"They won't but you're right, time's getting on", acting on his words Big hastily emptied the back of the car, dropping his own and Mighty's luggage haphazardly in a bid to hasten his father's departure; _don't want to be mean dad but you're starting to choke us all up here_; "there we go, at least you'll have a lighter load this time around". The elder cat gave a chortle, patting his son's broad back as he headed towards the driver's seat,

"Too right, I think the suspension would have a couple of words to say if it thought you'd both be hopping back in for the return journey".

"Rude words I bet". Bill winked at the armadillo's quip before opening his door and slipping inside, calling through the glass of his window as both other Mobians waved,

"A bet you'd probably win, now clear the decks", Big and Mighty quickly scooped up their things and vacated the area around the parking space as the engine of Bill's rugged but well-maintained estate rumbled into life, the wheels rotating a second later as the driver carefully began to negotiate his way out of the space he'd recently been filling.

"Go, go, plenty of room", Mighty had to shout to make sure he heard her directions; _they really aught to paint these lines a bit further apart, a couple more feet wouldn't hurt anyone_; "okay, clear and not a paint job scratched". Bill said nothing more, merely waving from his seat and giving a farewell pip on his horn as he headed for the airport exit; only when he was out of sight and she had counted slowly to five under her breath did Mighty dare to reach for her bags at the same time as smile over at Big,

"Great to see them looking so well isn't it? I'm sorry we had to go so soon, I couldn't get any tickets any later". Finally tearing his eyes away from the blank strip of tarmac his father had driven away down, Big blinked away the tears filming his eyes and shrugged down at her,

"Don't be", reaching across he liberated her of one of his bags, his forefinger slowly running down her hand as he prised it softly form her grasp, the contact almost making her sigh in contentment, "we all knew it was coming but I don't think you can ever be ready for it. Anyway, enough of this", standing tall and quickly choking down any sniffles that might have been lurking following leaving the bosom of his family, the cat nodded at the airport entrance, "don't want to be stuck out here in the freezing cold all night; race ya!"

"Oi!" Caught out by his sudden burst of speed, Mighty hastily snatched up her bags and blazed the trail Big had laid down for her, constantly on the lookout for any traffic that might have been coming up, "you rotten cheat, I wasn't ready". The cat spared her a mischievous glance and a second later his voice floated back to her tauntingly,

"There's a head-start there for those who want it; one of your favourite lines if I remember rightly. Oh hang on", his sudden laugh was a whip to her ego and spurred her on, her teeth gritted in the face of adversity, "I always do".

"You remember all right", she called back, seeing she was closing the distance slowly and hoping there was enough car park left to overhaul him in, "so you can remember me winning and, special treat this", she put on an extra burst of acceleration, "you're going to get to see it again in real time!"

XXX

_I give up_; try as she might to decipher the flashing runes on the gigantic billboard overhead she simply couldn't remember the number of her fight, where it was exactly supposed to be stopping off and, most importantly of all as far as she and Big were now concerned, what time it was supposed to be taking off. Irritatingly checking the time again the armadillo ground her teeth, nerves starting to fray despite the fact she was certain they had plenty of time left yet; _come on Big guy, the information desk can't be that crowded surely?_ It must have been; she couldn't even see him any more despite how tall he was and, tempting though it was to give into the urge to go hunting for him she forced herself to stay where she was, looking after their combined baggage as he found out the information they both needed to know. It was hard though, hard not to submit to her heart's cravings of tracking the huge cat down again, making sure he was still alright about this whole episode even at this late hour; she squirmed about on her seat, frustrating her mind's demands to stand up, look around her to see if she could spot him in the milling press. Almost against her will her foot started moving, tapping against the cheap plastic of the seat she was in irritatingly, the sharp rapping noise setting her teeth on edge even if she was unable to cease the motion; arms folded and with frustrated excitement welling up to almost fever pitch with her, the armadillo could do nothing but glower forwards, knowing logically that if she made to go after Big she ran the risk of them being permanently separated and missing their flight but also knowing in a deeper, much more important part of her compared to merely her mental faculties, that every moment she was forced to stay put like this was going to chafe and torment her worse than even the worst case of the gribbles was ever likely to.

Such was the depth of her aggravated dolour that, perversely, not even the sight of Big himself in the distance broke her out of it; in fact it was only when he was within earshot and waving at her that she finally managed to muster the energy needed to reply, and even then it was a bad-tempered grunt of a voice that greeted the cat as he made to sit down,

"What took you so long?"

"The fact that there's only one girl manning the information booth and there's about two hundred people all asking her questions at the same time, me included up until recently", the cat replied tetchily, even his temper shortened by the long wait he'd just endured, "anyway, got three things; good news, bad news and this". Mighty glanced over before taking in a sudden gasp of air; something very chilly had just been set down in her lap and she quickly made tracks to scoop it off, viewing it as she did so,

"Heh, thanks Big"; _only you Big – middle of winter near enough and he goes and gets ice-cream, my favourite flavour as well_; her eyes darted sideways, seeing him with a cone of his own for a second and immediately regret sprang forwards in her mind, "sorry for being sharp back then; I never thought this place would be so busy".

"Neither did I, and don't think you're the only one being sharp round here", the cat informed her before gingerly tapping on a spot just below his ribcage, "I've had more digs in the ribs and elbows to the gut just now than I know what to do with". Mighty could help but smile even if her short-term memory took this opportunity to remind her that, as of yet, she wasn't out of the woods by any means as far as today was concerned,

"That's the world of cut-throat business for you; desperate men trying to get where they need to go and woe to anyone who gets in the way of where their Blackberry's demanding the next meeting's being held. Anyway, what was this news you'd managed to get away with?" He didn't answer straight away, choking himself off in the middle of the first lick of his recently-purchased ice-cream in order to turn a baleful glare in Mighty's direction, his voice thick and grating as even she unwillingly yielded a pace before him,

"Don't you believe it; most of that queue were women; anyway"; _thanks for that_; casting her eyes upwards for a second Mighty was grateful for a little help from that quarter as with a weary sigh the memory of his very recent irritation left Big's eyes and he spoke again, "yes, news; you want the good or the bad first?"

"Good news first please – I need something to cheer me up even before I get depressed again".

"Right; well I now know exactly where our flight is, what lines it's going to be taking boarders from and approximately how long we've got to get ready before we have to make a move. Unfortunately"; _oh no, what now?_; "the flight's been delayed…" That was the straw that broke the armadillo's back,

"Oh wonderful, just what we bloody well needed", only the fact that she was still holding her ice-cream made Mighty think twice about burying her face in her hands, "that's going to make dad's day that is; not only is he going to have to pick us all up but he's going to have to be stay out late because of it – yeah, that'll really set the tone that will".

"…by about twenty minutes", Big cringed as Mighty's tirade was stemmed in full flow by the end of his announcement; finishing quickly before she could react to the news, he added, "that's how I knew I had enough time to get these in; we've got enough time to get a last bit of halfway-decent food down us, get a quick wash, dump our bags on the carousel and get to gate six before the flight leaves".

"Oh, oh right. Well that's good then", suddenly the next mouthful she took tasted all the sweeter because of that news; hastily licking her lips she winked up at him, all the ills of the world taken back by that piece of good fortune, "eat up and chow down then; if the good old air service has been kind enough to hold themselves back for us, the least we can do is make sure we're bang on time for them!"

XXX

It was the smell, it was always the smell that did it; due to the fact aircraft, by the very nature of where they ferried their passengers, were pressurised vessels, there was always the lingering tang of older, staler air present in the passenger compartment – as she stepped through the small portal in the plane before her and that scent hit her nose Mighty finally accepted that there was now no chance of anything else going wrong and that she and Big were finally on their way. Taking down a deep, cleansing breath of that less than completely fresh air the armadillo paused just long enough to look over her shoulder; the smile that slipped over her face at the sight awaiting her was half-teasing, half-sympathetic as Big loomed over her shoulder; even here his ears were cramped up flat and he was having to hold his arms tight by his sides to make sure they didn't swing into anything and cause unnecessary damage. Taking the lead Mighty followed in the footsteps of the passenger in front of her and, half-turning at the entrance to the economy area of the plane's seating, beckoned him forwards with a devious grin,

"Come on feller, sorry but I could only get us cattle class I'm afraid". _Oh wonderful – this is going to ache like a killer isn't it_; if the seating was laid out anything like he feared it was this trip was going to be even more uncomfortable than he'd imagined – steeling himself for the reality, the cat plucked up enough courage to peek over the crest of Mighty's shell and see what awaited him; _yep, this is going to be very unpleasant_.

It wasn't so much the fact that he had to almost shimmy sideways down the aisle towards where Mighty had found their seats, nor was it the fact that he was sandwiched into the minuscule amount of plastic and cushions allocated to him so tight his shins were barking the chair in front of him and the armrest that separated him from the front of the aisle was hemming in to such an extent that his right side was virtually enfolding it. Even the fact that he could almost feel all eyes on him, the fat Mobian, their whispers right on the edge of his hearing as mothers hastily hushed their children's comments about his abnormal size; since he'd taken up his apprenticeship he had, mercifully, become ever so slightly less affected by comments such as that due to his interactions with everyday people in Station Square. No, it wasn't those things that were making him uncomfortable; it was the knowledge that this was going to continue for at least six, probably nine hours that was really getting to him. _Still, as dad would say, I'm here now, better make the most of it – look on the bright side, use it as experience_; that was certainly true – as he shifted about again to try and dislodge the armrest from digging into his side and see if there was a way to put the cursed thing down, he realised that after this experience he was going to make perfectly sure he'd found another way of getting to Scotland for next year!

"So this is it then, on our way", the voice to the side of him cheered him a little; _at least there's someone else who can't sit still to save their life here too_; "ohhh, so excited, even if I do have to hang around dad for three or four days believe me the week or so afterwards will make up for it, and this".

"Boy I hope so; maybe it'll be better when we're actually in the air", the cat said pithily, trying to slap a brave face on things for her benefit, "anyway, what's that you've got there?" _What's so funny?_; though not inherently suspicious by nature, the way the armadillo's face had suddenly seemed to implode on itself giggling made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up a touch as she held up the front cover of the publication she'd smuggled aboard in her hand luggage up for his inspection,

"Rivals; it's the book Vector and the rest of the crew got for me"; _oh right_; as he recalled the story Tails had, after a little persuasion from his brother's maddening stare, imparted to them all, Big was now intimately familiar with the history of that particular novel, "I thought that, after all he went through to get it to me, the least I could do was actually read it! Anyway, movie's on soon and I can guarantee the second we hit ten-thousand or so feet for an hour I'll be out like a light, so bud", she tapped his shoulder as he attempted to stop sniggering at the gory details of the foxboy's tale, "see you on the other side".

A/N: As shall I of course; so they've made it across the water to bonnie Scotland, but what awaits them there? Keep reading to find out!


	6. Chapter 6 Scenes from a Scottish Hotel

Chapter 6 – Scenes from a Scottish Hotel

A/N: Sorry for the delay, massive chapter and miniscule amount of writing time. Still, just as long as people are still enjoying it, I don't mind, but could the readers do me a bit of a favour? Could you please let me know if the relationship between Big and Mighty sounds believable; one of the reasons I chose these two as a couple was for the fact they were so rarely paired up – I wanted to see if I could take two characters from opposite ends of the spectrum and forge a realistic romance between them. Have I succeeded – you be the judge of that. One last shout-out:

BC – GCSE's already? One of the things about leaving school, you forget just how heinous exams can be! Have you selected A-levels yet, and have you made plans to head to university after that? If so, I've got some insider information you need to keep the wolves from the door!

Out of necessity he choked off the yawn that accompanied his first breath of the new day; hastily expelling that deep breath on account of the agonising squeeze it incurred on his floating ribs, Big just about held in a pained gasp as his hands quickly shot backwards and gripped onto the immovable armrest separating him from the seat Mighty occupied, the armadillo still comatose in her sleep and unaware of her partner's discomfort. Leaning forwards as much as he was able to, Big took in a slightly more constrained breath this time, stretching off as much of himself as was possible in the tiny confines of the space allocated to him. _Aircraft_; as some joint or other in his hand let out a particularly choice crunch the cat viewed his surroundings again, a sneer of long-suffering disdain curling his lip; _the only place in the world you wake up stiffer and more tired than you were when you drifted off! Now_; rocking his head back on his thick, lumpy neck and wincing as at least two of his vertebrae took offence at the sudden action, the cat blearily assessed his surroundings again and his next question drifted up from the obfuscated depths of his cognitive mental procedures; _where abouts are we – how long 'til we can land and get off this flying sardine can?_

Looking out the tiny porthole that counted as a window was a pointless exercise as all that was visible out there was a vast sea of utter blackness, punctuated only by the pin-pricks of starlight and the pale, soft sliver of the new moon peeking out like the sliver of a giant fingernail pressed against the lightlessness of the night sky. He couldn't even see the ground due to the way Mighty was sat; leaning across her ran the risk of jolting her out of her sleep and he judged the potential gains were outweighed by the risks; _so, no telling if we're over land or sea – I hope we're nearly there_. That was true in at least two respects; firstly his legs and tail were in desperate need of re-education as to their allotted purpose in his life and, secondly, he wanted desperately to relieve himself; he knew there was a cubicle somewhere aboard the plane but he was definitely, adamantly set against exploring that avenue unless it was completely unavoidable. So, he couldn't work out how long it was until touch-down with the information he had, there were no further reference points he had immediately to hand and he really was itchingly curious now. Only one thing for it,

"'Scuse me", craning his neck to peer over the seat and whispering in case the person he was trying to talk to was asleep, Big was relieved when the young lady rolled her eyes upwards to see him from the top of her eyes,

"Yeah?"

"Umm, have there been any announcements about, you know, getting out the air recently? Sorry, I've been asleep". She gave a snort and, as she threw one of hands backwards, Big saw the neck-cushion bracing her head against the pillow just before her fists batted into it bad-temperedly,

"Wish I could", she rolled around to peer between the gaps in her seats, catching a glimpse of Mighty's still-slumbering form as she irritably brushed a lock of auburn hair back behind her ears, "she doesn't know how lucky she is, I'd kill to be able to nod off like that on one of these rust-traps".

"Just as long as you don't kill her – anyway, any news?"

"Yeah, we broke into Scottish airspace about twenty minutes ago, near enough; should be touching down about three-quarters of an hour or so, maybe a bit earlier if we get dropped like what happened to me last time I was flying. We were supposed to have fifteen minutes to land, we were down in five, and only because if we'd have been delayed any longer our insurance would have had to pay out".

"Nasty"; _very – forty-five minutes to go, that's going to be tough_; still he was sure he could last that long if push really came to shove, "still, not as bad as I was expecting".

"Me either, still, I've got a three-hour train journey waiting for me right after we get down, and that's assuming I can find the station; have to get a decent cabbie". It sounded like she was in for a long journey and wasn't too happy about it; Big decided to let the matter lie while he still could and end the conversation on a positive not,

"Well good luck".

"Thanks"; the girl twisted back around in her seat and was lost to the cat's sight, Big slumping back in his own receptacle and totting up the distances and time-scale involved. It didn't sound all that long to be honest; if anything, the pilot had caught up some of the time he'd lost in getting clearance to land when he'd picked up both Mighty and himself. _No, overall not to bad then_; taking a peek over at where Mighty was still out cold, something in her hand caught the cat's eye and, carefully reaching over, he managed to disentangle the publication from where her thumb was acting as an impromptu bookmark. Needing something to take his mind off the whole scenario in general and the still-uncomfortable pressure in his right side in particular, he flicked to the first page of Mighty's first Christmas present and, after easily absorbing the blurb about where the author had lived, worked and was living now, started from page one.

XXX

Typically, the chime sounded overhead just as he sat down again and reacquainted himself with the vice grip around his middle having just spent the past five or so minutes grappling with the concept of trying to sit down in a room not much large than the average shoe cupboard. Temper shortened by the realisation that had he managed to hold out for just a couple more minutes that entire palaver might have been avoided altogether, Big nevertheless held open an attentive ear for the soft burr of a voice that slowly siphoned from the airliner's speakers,

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking; I am pleased to announce that we will be landing at our primary destination in approximately fifteen minutes. It is currently ten-fourteen local time, meaning disembarkation will begin at approximately ten-thirty; for the convenience of the crew and your fellow passengers will all present please ensure their hand luggage is properly secured in our overhead compartments during our descent otherwise they might fall and cause an injury. Once more we will be landing in approximately fifteen minutes, thank you". The voice cut off and Big mused on the message for a second, glancing over his shoulder as he weighed up the pros and cons of waking Mighty up now or letting her carry on snoozing until they touched down. _Overall_; totting the figures up in his mind he eventually reached his conclusion and leaned across; _yeah, better get her up and running now rather than later – at least that way she'll have a bit of time to get ready for meeting everyone on her side of the water again._ With that in mind, the cat carefully pinched the armadillo's nose, cutting off her breathing until, fighting her way out of sleep's embrace in order to remove whatever was blocking her breathing spaces, Mighty began to gradually come around, one hand feebly slapping Big's fingers and causing him to drop his hold as she dragged a massive yawn into her lungs, hoping to get something like awake and aware as she blinked blearily,

"Urgh, wha'; are we there?"

"Fifteen minutes, pilot's just been on the line", Big filled her in, pointing at the speakers above them though, as Mighty covered her second great inhalation with a raised hand, he was doubtful he'd heard her, "anyway, get your gum ready, he said we'd be coming in soon as well, oh and this is yours by the way".

"Huh? Right, what'd you thing, think?" She corrected herself as she took her book back from where Big offered it to her; _not really sure, never read all that much_;

"Seemed okay from what I saw; not quite my cup of tea though", he replied with a non-committal shrug, re-running the words he'd absorbed over and over in his mind before deciding on his answer, "never could really get in to those sorts of books; mysteries were more my thing, they kept me guessing".

"Too right, though I bet you figured most of them out before the end?" _No_; the cat's shake of the head came as a surprise to Mighty – she'd thought that his mnemonic peculiarity would have made seeing the endings to books like that easy for him, but that obviously didn't appear to be the case,

"No, you'd be surprised; being able to remember what's been written's only useful of you can translate it into what's going to happen next; I could never get that bit right with any degree of accuracy. Oh, hang on", there was a decided lurch in the trajectory of their current transport and Mighty's hand flew to her pocket, scrabbling around for a stick of gum to chew on the descent to make sure her ears didn't pop, "think we're going places now".

"Yeah", frantically unwrapping the sweet she'd managed to tease free of its wrappings she hastily popped it into her mouth, almost swallowing it in her haste as she offered the packet sideways, "let's just hope it's down rather than straight down!" Chuckling, Big gently waved away her generous offer and instead let his mouth fall open a little, the space now present there evening out the discrepancies in air pressure rather than his eardrums. Obviously this set-up meant he couldn't talk for a little while and thus, as the plane's noise tilted further downwards, this last step of the couple's journey together was undertaken in a light-hearted but respectful silence.

XXX

_Ahh, air – fresh, sweet air_; standing up to his full and imposing height in the middle of the arrival's lounge, Big inhaled as much as he was able to before the flaring pains in his sides where his seat had nipped him grew too great and forced him to desist; _and she has to get to this thing every year?_ It was a thought to make him shudder, even more so when he looked over his shoulder to see Mighty leaning against the nearest seat, more asleep than awake as jet-lag began to bite into her normally boundless energy levels. _And I'm hardly the picture of vitality now am I?_; even as he thought it he was having to hold back a deep yawn, rubbing his eyes as he tried to force his sluggish mind to recollect his bearings and sort out something about locating the baggage carousel before his luggage was lost in the ether of the airport's baggage handling area.

"Mighty?" His first attempt at speech sounded even more slurred and lethargic than he felt; he blinked, licked his lips and tried again, "Might? Still with me back there?"

"Sort of", the armadillo managed to mumble back; her words were followed with an exaggerated groan and a couple of clicks that sounded a lot less than healthy. Trying hard to convince himself that had been merely her shell tapping itself back into her place across her back Big bit back a shiver and spoke again, this time a query aimed at getting them both out of this infernally noisy, jam-packed, electronic corner of hell's outhouse and towards somewhere closer to bed,

"Any idea where our luggage is, and any ideas where your folks are?"

"In bed if they're any sort of sensible", the armadillo replied groggily, running her hands down her face and wondering if it was actually possible for her to be looking as grotty as she felt, "urgh, baggage, not sure, anyone round here look like they might know – can't be far, this is arrival". _Good point_; summoning what little remained of his energy the cat attempted to think logically – it was a bit of struggle but eventually he fell back on the good old fashioned herd instinct and, pausing only to make sure Mighty was following in his footsteps, he fell into step with the general mass of people streaming off the flight they'd all recently occupied. He thought the girl he'd spoken to earlier waved to him at one point but the general tiredness and disorientation muddying his mind prevented his responding in any way, his mood not improving until the glass doors ahead of him slid open and the air conditioning rushed into him like a wave of freezing air.

The chill hit him like a kick in the face; sucking in a sudden startled gasp and choking as the coldness penetrated his lungs, Big felt a little more of him jolted back online by the adrenaline surge provoked by the drop in temperature. _Wow, talk about your fixer-upper_; fur on end from the shock, he attempted to rein in his spreading hairstyle with a little frantic combing before a voice from behind him gave him cause to stop for a second,

"Whoo, gotta love the old country for that", Mighty stepped forwards, lifting her head towards the ceiling and drinking in another lungful of the Scottish air, something within it seeming to banish her tiredness, "if you ever need a wake-up call just open a front door in Scotland first thing in the morning. Anyway", blinking the last of the sleep from her vision she looked around, turned away quickly and, after a couple of seconds where Big merely stood with his hands on his hips, glanced back with a massive grin still on her lips, "assuming you can keep all of yourself under control there pal, we'll pick up our bags and then I'll find out where mum's hiding out in here".

"Laugh if you must", Big intoned solemnly as yet again Mighty was able to make light of his hirsute winter coat with impunity, though there was a bit of a glint in his eye as he finished, "but just you wait until I have to start shedding – a couple of raised plates, a loose hair here and there…"

"Stop", Mighty held up a hand at the same time as try to stop herself squirming at the mere thought of such a fate, "as far as that goes you haven't got a leg to stand on; I still owe you at least a couple of pots of itching powder in that regard. Anyway, if you're quite up to acting like a responsible adult now?"

"Humph, you're one to talk", the cat snapped back before grudgingly inclining his head to her stern glare and stepped to the side, allowing the armadillo to stride past unimpeded. _As if you're the paradigm model of how grown-ups behave? Luckily_; going past him as she was Mighty never saw Big's hand move above her head, never felt the feather-light impacts of his deployed ordnance and never saw the immature smirk that split his lips as he made to follow her progress across the arrival lounge towards where their bag were waiting for them; _got just the thing to knock you off your perch missus – look out for the giants and you'll get eaten by the ants Mighty!_

XXX

She couldn't reach it; try as she might; as if to spite her efforts one of the handles of her last bag flopped over under the centrifugal force of the slowed-down slalom that the baggage carousel was, the rough material all but brushing her fingertips as she fought down the urge to bellow in frustration. In fact the more she thought about it the more tempting it was; the noise was growing in her chest like a swirling nebula of negative energy, feeding on the combined forces of tiredness, frustration and sheer bloody-minded bad temper before they were suddenly forced to disperse, scattering like a shoal of fish ripped apart by a marauding shark as from over her head an arm extended with a grunt of effort. Squeezing herself off to the side to let Big have a clear shot, the armadillo followed the course of his struggle with her eyes and slowly dispelled her rising temper as a hiss of relieved mental pressure as the cat managed to snag a finger-full of her bag handle and hoist it clear of the rest of the milling luggage. Mighty reached for it gratefully, nodding deferentially at her partner as she did so,

"Cheers, saved it from having to go 'round the horn again".

"I reckon if it had you'd have been going around the twist Might", he replied easily, giving a smirk that she mistakenly thought was merely lampooning her irritable mood rather the fact that she still hadn't realised he'd set her up for a fall earlier, "right, so that's us here, check; our bags here, check; your parents…?"

"Better be here", the armadillo finished for him with an insinuating growl before remembering her manners and shaking her head, excitement beginning to hum around her body like a current of electricity as she realised that what he'd said was perfectly true; _I'm going to get to see mum again – even if dad's there I can still see her!_; "and the sooner we get to them, the sooner you", Big broke off for his latest yawn and half-stifled snore as she shoved him gently in the side, "get to drag yourself into bed". Tiredly rubbing his eyes again, the cat managed to somehow smile through the weariness saturating him more thoroughly than even the most persistent rainstorm could have ever managed,

"The rate I'm going forget the bed, just find me a comfortable patch of carpet and drop me there; in fact now that I think about it this lino's not looking all that uncomfortable…"

"Ahah", grabbing his arm as his knees jokingly threatened to buckle, Mighty none-too-gently guided him back towards the main terminal of the airport and towards where her family was hopefully waiting for the pair of them, "no way you, mum and dad shelled out a lot for the hotel room they've got booked for you so the last thing you're going to do is crash out in the foyer; come on, they're probably waiting and Stefan's about as fond of standing around as Sonic is".

"That good huh?" _If he's anything like she's been describing the last thing I want to do is give him an easy start on the pair of us_; with that thought in his mind Big stood up, will restored and ready to press on once more, "okay, let's get going". _Sure thing_; falling into step behind her, Big traced his girlfriend's steps back towards the main body of the airport, his eyes lingering on the back of her shell for a moment before he glanced up again; _I came here for you and only you – no-one, least of all one of your family, is going to get me packing my bags before you're ready to get going again_.

XXX

She logically knew it was rude to just tail off in the middle of the conversation and ignore someone she'd been talking to and made a mental note to apologise later; emotionally, the second she'd set eyes on the profile she knew so well, she suddenly couldn't have cared a click of her fingers who she'd been talking to previously – all that mattered was who was now in front of her. People, places, the entirety of the rest of existence faded into grey insignificance as without conscious bidding her legs gave her more speed to work with, driving her ever onwards to the sanctuary that beckoned her enticingly. Her lips were numb and she had forgotten speech in any case, there was no way she could announce her arrival but somehow, guided by instincts deeper than the taproots of the mightiest of trees her approach was sensed by the target of the relentless approach. The other Mobian turned, the model of decorum and dignity compared to her almost frenzied rush and approached her also, the distance between them shrinking to a room's distance, a table-length, mere feet, an arms-span…

…less.

With her throat dry and desiccated Mighty could do nothing but stand mute and stare forwards, see every detail through the wetness in her eyes as it seemed for a moment that her opposite number was momentarily similarly overcome; anticipation condensed between the two of them, virtually dripping to the floor but still neither could force the breech, still the crucial sentence wouldn't come. The face she knew so well, the first sight her eyes had ever seen, was before her but as always at moments like this she could say nothing, her body stubbornly dismissing her mind's frantic pleas to break the silence n case it shattered the beautiful moment irreparably; the touch that feathered home on her arm nearly drove her to her knees at the same time as elevate her upwards further, faster, cementing the fact that she was finally here, here with her own kind once more and nothing was ever going to stop that. She took a deep breath, a very deep one, just about managing to swallow the lump that had developed in her throat like a bowling ball in time to see the lips across from her own move, her ears picking out the words spoken by the Mobian opposite her, as ghost-like and faint as she was sure her own voice would have been had she been able to operate it,

"Mighty? My little girl come back t'me?"

Her reaction was immediate, reactionary and, some would have said, fierce; her own arm whipped up, clamping onto the soft, demure hand that had touched her bicep with a grip that would have kept a super-tanker at anchor in a gale – she felt the impact at her front as she pulled forward irresistibly even if there was no resistance to her need for maternal comfort this time. She couldn't feel the arms around her back just as the other Mobian was unable to feel the crushing grip that was she was exerting to compress them both together; finally in the moment she found her voice once more, her mother's voice acting as a focus for her own, giving her a question she knew she had to answer,

"Aye Emmie", she knew due to the constraints of their species that she and her mother would never be able to rest their heads on each other's shoulders as they would have loved to but that never stopped them trying; as their shells scraped together she finished her sentence, "made it b,back, back to the old country". She could say nothing more, not right now at any rate; she was too wrapped up, both emotionally and literally, in her reunion that she was unable to convince her body to part with any further words. For a moment, neither she nor her mother spoke again, the world around them forgotten and uncared for – in this place, in this time, they knew and cared for only each other, the way it had been since the elder of the two Mobians had become aware of the younger's existence and unconsciously sworn that there would be nothing to ever come between the pair of them again.

"Stand back, stand back a minute", with great reluctance Mighty finally managed to comply with this instruction, hastily blinking back her tears and choking down a sniffle as the armadillo opposite her looked her up and down, a measured smile creping over her face as she beheld her absent child returned to her,

"Yes, you're back Michelle, and from what I can tell that new job o'yours must be everything you were makin' it out to be"; _too right it was_; compared to this time last year even with the work she'd been doing with her former occupation she was a picture of vitality. One of the hidden benefits of working to guard the Master Emerald and, to a lesser extent at least, the rest of the wilder side of Angel Island was that the work was different from day to day and, as the member of the Chaotix most heavily tasked with the strenuous jobs that needed doing, Mighty had continually exercised muscle groups she hadn't even known she'd had since that memorable afternoon Spectre had seen into her mind and pronounced her as trustworthy enough to be entrusted with the knowledge and burden of Angel Island's mystical power source. As a result, though perhaps not changed a great deal physically Mighty felt herself to be leaner, sleeker and in an altogether much more upbeat frame of mind than from the previous year. _Mind you, around this time then we were starting to get rumblings of the old firm going belly-up – I was a bit worried about my job back then. Still_; just for a moment her mind flitted back towards Angel Island, in particular one relatively small but comfortable house that fell on the boarder between Echidnopolis's inner city and the suburbs, and on the three Mobians who still in habited it in her absence; _as rough a bunch as they can be at times, at least with them you've got a job, not to mention friends, for life_.

"My new job", fortunately her mouth had had the manners to continue working despite her memory wandering away down memory lane, "is the best thing that ever happened to me; funny that", giving another chuckle and tapping her mothers shoulder, Mighty pointed to the other armadillo's footwear and grinned, "I must have followed in your immaculately tailored, Jimmy Choo-clad boot-prints in that respect – how many pairs have you got stashed away now? And can I borrow just one pair, please?" _Every year, every single one_; for some reason Emily had never been able to fathom, her daughter could always notice that she'd indulged her passion for shoes every time they saw each other,

"I've lost count and no you can't"; _awwww!_; Mighty's answering scowl was so reminiscent of the teenage daughter she recalled so well that she couldn't stay completely heartless for long, "I worked long and hard to get where I am now, and so did the building firm your dad commandeered to add the extension to my wardrobe".

"Oh you finally got it finished then; only took what, six months or so"; _just as well they did something about my old room – I know you've both wanted a study for ages now_; "just as long as you kept the old paint scheme I haven't got a problem with that – you never know I might decide to come back and visit some day". Emily took a step back with her hand clenched over her heart, eyes wide as though her daughter had spoken the ultimate blasphemy before her unsuspecting ears,

"Saints preserve us from that fate ever falling on our heads; but anyway, look at you", letting that thin veneer slide away to nothingness the older of the pair put her hand on her daughter's shoulder again, every moment of physical contact helping to cement in her mind that this whole thing was coming together, together they were stood on the threshold of going back into the midst of their kindred again, "you must have something going for you now; you look a million quid, you might have finally developed something resembling a taste for fashion"; _not a chance of that one_; Mighty's eyes flashed at that borderline insult; _not even Rouge going all-out managed to drag me to the posh end of town so there's no way you're going to even try it – I'm a complete fashion drop-out and proud of it!_; "and, what's this?" Her mother's hand moved, Mighty tracing the movement as much as she was able to with her eyes as Emily's fingers disappeared over the top of her shell; a split-second later her eyes shot wide open in shock, a complete mirror of her mother's suddenly smiling, light green irises contracting with glee,

"Slightly hairier to boot – getting your winter woollies on are you babe?"

"Oops"; _yes, oops_; looking as intimidating as it was possible for an armadillo with a face-full of fire to look, Mighty turned a baleful glare over at where Big was glancing away innocently, "escapees".

XXX

_Every time_; as was always the way he super-imposed past onto present and the similarities were immediately obvious – it wasn't that such a sight was even unexpected any more; he'd gotten far more than his share of odd looks just walking around Station Square merely due to his unusual proportions, but they still irked him nevertheless. His memory layering its picture onto the blank canvas of his mind with more skill than even he could ever managed with brushwork to paper, Big found himself looking again at the first time he'd ever been introduced to the Mobian Mighty had been talking up non-stop since she'd first met with the Chaotix, the renegade Dark Legionnaire Julie-Su. The expression of shocked disbelief that had transformed the echidna's face was replicated perfectly, save for obvious differences in species blurring a few of the minor lines in transit, onto the slightly more mature features of the armadillo Big could plainly see was the mother of his girlfriend, one Emily Armadillo. _Just give her a couple more seconds_; as had happened before, in fact as had always happened before, once the inadvertently-offending party realised they were doing something wrong the same pattern of events was always followed; a hasty glance away, a slight clearing of the throat or licking of lips and a split-second but profound mental remonstration with themselves that staring was bad manners.

"Escapees", turning her attention fully back to Big as much to give her mother a little privacy to come to terms with the Mobian she'd just clapped eyes on as much as remonstrate with him for shedding on top of her shell, Mighty snorted contemptuously, "you just remember that when you wake up in the morning bald and wondering why it's so nippy out – all that mop decided to go over the fence together. Anyway, I can imagine you've probably guessed, but since you've humiliated me in front of her I suppose I'd better make all this official; mum"; _good, knew it wouldn't take you long_; her mother's business persona had taken over, her knack of dealing professionally with potential clients swiftly smoothing over the stumbling block seeing her boyfriend for the first time had proven to be and, emboldened by this revelation, Mighty swept a hand forwards and Big inclined his head respectfully, "this, believe it or not, is Big, and yes before you ask that's his real name – I'm not making it up or anything. Big, this is Emily, my mother, sometime advisor and very-rarely-time fashion guru". Humour twinkling in his hazel eyes, he winked at her at the same time as step forwards and offer forwards his hand,

"Fashion guru?" Emily held in a chuckle as the cat very pointedly switched his gaze between her and her daughter before shaking his head, "someone not a million miles from here needs to pay more attention to her mother; a pleasure".

"Likewise"; _I know there's something but I can't put my finger on it_; as he registered the firm but supple grip on the ends of his two largest fingers Big finally paid heed to the part of his mind unaddled by fatigue and jet-lag that was screaming for him to recognise that something about this armadillo was markedly different to the specimen he was used to seeing but his senses had been dulled to such an extent that he just couldn't pick out the source of this discrepancy, "you know I never believed the piccy she sent us, thought she was using something to beef you up a bit in shot; now I know she was telling the truth. Big the cat; very apt".

"Yeah, the one mistake no-one was sorry to have seen made all things considered", releasing her hand carefully the cat reared up and attempted to smother a yawn at the same time as try not to make it look like he was trying to stretch up taller than he was, "sorry, not used to flying long distance". Emily craned her neck to see into his face for a moment before her eyes darted sideways; _too right there pal, and it looks like that sort of hop didn't do you too many favours either love_. Seeing this and weighing up her options she decided that the best thing to do would be to cut the introductions short until tomorrow, when both of the two weary travellers before her had had time to get their heads down for a much-needed night's rest. Mind made up, she hitched her handbag higher up her arm at the same time as reach for one of her daughters,

"Believe you me, the people who tell you flying gets easier the more you do it are all liars; I've been jet-setting for a good few years now and I still haven't got the knack of jumping straight down the ramp and into the boardroom. Don't panic, the ride's outside, if you can stay awake that long that is".

"Don't dare me I might just take you up on it", Mighty chastised her mother before gently slapping her hand away and lifting up her own luggage, Big following suite and snagging the single, small parcel she couldn't manage with a free finger, Emily looking on suitably impressed by the combined show of strength from the pair of them, "come on, knowing dad he's got the motor running and if we run out of petrol he'll make us get out and push". Emily's shoulders shook as she looked them up and down, noticing the bulging muscles and rippling fur on show before her before turning away and beckoning them to follow

"We can but hope, we'd be there in a minute if that was the case; come on then, follow me and get ready for a mad dash across the car park, it's blimmin' perishing out there". With his red-rimmed eyes almost watering at being forced open so long, Big relied mostly on his ears to follow the armadillos towards wherever their transport was waiting; the tapping of the elder of the pair's high heels a welcomingly reassuring noise that was easy to home in on. Taking a second to shake his head, Big licked suddenly dry lips as he heard a mechanical swooshing noise from somewhere nearby and risked raising his head to glance up at what was coming despite the pain it cased in his aching neck. _Great – tired, famished and now, just for the icing on the cake_; he grimaced and flattened his ears as the chilling wind bit home, the teeth of the Scottish breeze biting through even his formidable winter coat to a certain degree; _absolutely frozen. Oh, hang on, Mighty_; fortunately enough neurones were working for that one to sink in; quickly coming up alongside his girlfriend, the cat quickly positioned himself between her and the worst of the weather as all three Mobians dashed across the almost barren stretch of tarmac. She might have smiled at his efforts at gallantry in appreciating but he wasn't sure and, if he was completely honest with himself, too tired to care all that much; all he had eyes for was the squat, powerful shape that was hovering into view, barely discernable by its silhouette in the gloom of the airport's outside lighting. Even as he tried to pick up the pace towards it Emily raced away from the pair of them for a purpose he couldn't determine; only when the jaws of the beast hinged upwards as though threatening to devour them whole did he understand,

"Forget neatness", a voice to the side of him jerked his attention from the automobile, Mighty trying to shout through chattering teeth, "just sling them all in and slam the boot down; you'll have to get in the back".

"Can't I get in the boot and you sit with the bags; might get a bit of kip that way?"

"No chance, if I'm still up then so are you", Mighty declared as they reached their destination together, her first handful of assorted bags tossed into the available space with no thoughts for precision or potential fragility, "dive in, we might doze off when we're underway".

"We can but hope", the cat replied as he set his loads down and lifted them in one at a time, Mighty providing a guiding hand to make sure nothing got too badly squashed as everything they'd be needing for the next fortnight or so, with a little extra in case of emergencies, somehow slotted neatly into the back of her father's pride and joy. Swiftly popping open one of the rear doors the cat somehow parcelled himself up enough to fit in one of the car's back seats, managing to grin sheepishly to the side of him as Mighty was trying to stifle giggles at the sight of him almost kissing his own knees; _ceiling's a mite low but I think it's survivable_;

"Heh, sorry in front", just about able to call over the seat that his legs were half-compressing forwards, the cat decided it would probably be best to make his apologies immediately rather than delay them until he was able to wake up from where he crashed out in the night. However, his answer came not from the slightly husky tones he had come to very briefly associate with Emily, but another voice instead; for a second the cat shivered as though the wind outside had breezed through the door beside him and ruffled his fur with icy fingers again,

"Buckle up", it was a colourless, virtually emotionless tone; Big managed to flick his eyes upwards in time to catch half a glimpse of a pair of narrowed eyes, set within an equally narrow, shrouded face, regarding him via the rear view mirror before they were gone and a mechanical click reached his ears, "the sooner we move the sooner we get back".

The fact that this was a very odd thing for a father welcoming an absent child home to say, in fact it plainly bordered on the edge of outright rudeness, was the last coherent thought Big was able to hold onto as the car pulled away and sleep's tendrils crushed what was left of his will to stay awake.

XXX

_It was taking off without him – he reached for it, tried to move his legs but for some reason one of them simply refused to move, limp as a deceased eel as he heard the roar in his ears – with a sickening lurch he realised that he was going to be left behind, stuck on the tarmac whilst Mighty took off to the heavens and back towards her family. Horror mounting upon horror, the turbines in the engines began firing into life, the sharp tang of combusting aviation fuel beginning to sting his nose as he strained forwards, forcing himself to move forwards, uproot himself from this spot despite the strange deadness in his right leg. It was moving; he moaned in dread as by increments the passenger jet began to taxi towards the runway, it's tail fins bowed down low as though to mock his attempts to reach them. It really was now or never – Big knew he had to get there, had to snag a handful of those dejected flippers and hold on no matter what came his way; storing up every ounce of power he had left within him, readying himself for his final spurt, the cat suddenly threw himself at his prey, fully outstretched and pouncing – the back of the vehicle swelled up in his vision and he was there, so very nearly there. In a last desperation move, he launched his hands forwards, his fingers scrabbling for purchase, straining to get a grip on the bird that was escaping his clutches; he reached forwards, triumph beckoning…_

…and suddenly exploded upwards, rumpled bedding thrown every which way as the dull agony in his fingertips jolted the unsuspecting cat back into the land of consciousness.

_Ohh, ow!_; slowly blowing on his fingers Big looked up guiltily, relieved when he saw that his half-nightmarish thrashings hadn't resulted in anything in the vicinity of his temporary bunk taking any structural damage; _just as well, last thing I need now's a claim for damages_. Flexing both fists one after the other to stretch out any lingering pulses of pain still lurking there, Big then brought his palms up to rub his eyes sleepily, still not fully recovered from his lingering jetlag and sure his tossing and turning in the night probably hadn't helped matters much in that regard – still, at least now he knew why he'd been having such vivid, if restless dreams in the first place. _No wonder I couldn't run_; glancing down the length of his overnight stay the cat couldn't help but chuckle as he realised the reason behind one of his apparent weaknesses in his dreams – too short to hold all of him in properly, his right leg was dangling from the side of the hotel bed like a badly-bruised rack of meat strung up in a butcher's shop. The traffic outside that he could hear even through the double-glazed window opposite him must have sounded like an aeroplane taking off to his dreaming ears and, capping it all as he looked at the tips of his fingers again with a rueful smile this time, at least he hadn't had his claws out when he'd last reached for the sky;_ mind you, the wallpaper shouldn't have cost all that much to repair – looks a few years past its prime now_. True as that statement was, Big knew he shouldn't make light of what could have been a nasty situation; bringing himself into a sitting position with his left leg joining its twin, Big massaged his eyes again and groaned as he felt a pair of prominent bags swelling up just below them – obviously a single night's kip wasn't going to be enough to banish the result of his very late excursion the previous evening. _Though, in a away I suppose it was a good thing I was so knackered_; following his mother's advice of trying to see the silver lining surrounding every cloud, the massive cat tried to kick his mind into gear enough to get that idea spluttering through the processors; _because I was so tired I just collapsed here and drifted straight off – didn't have to worry about the size of the bed or anything_.

That was true to a certain extent; having lived in the manner he had for the past decade or so, Big often felt subtly entrapped, enclosed if forced to take his repose within a bed containing four posts and a headboard, though he kept such thoughts to himself when visiting home as so to not worry his mother. Being so used to a mound of soft, sweet heather that moulded and breathed around him as he slept, blankets and duvets felt hard and ridged, not to mention stifling in the summer when the night air was warm; even as the idea came across his mind the cat smiled to himself. _People would think I was mad, saying I didn't like sleeping in a bed of all things – oh well, an out-and-out country boy is me I suppose_; it was true enough and Big embraced it, letting such a conviction lend him the strength he needed to lurch to his feet and stretch his arms behind him with a yawn. Feeling slightly more awake as the air began to trickle down into his lungs, Big blinked a couple of flecks of sleep out of his eyes and turned back to what had been his resting station for the night – country boy he might have been but he could no more have forgotten how to make a bed than he could have forgotten his own name, his perfect memory had accounted for that. _Oh great, Cousin Itt slept here or what?_; just a single glance down had him trying to work out how much laundry was going to cost – there was no way he'd get away without being charged after leaving that amount of shedding in the bedding; still he was a cat in midwinter, what else could anyone reasonably expect? Making the best of an untidy situation, he quickly pulled the quilt down over the rest of the mattress after smoothing out the worst of the rumples his rolling in the night had caused to the groundsheet, then reached over the fluff up the pillows before taking a step back, regarding his progress thus far with a critical eye – yep, that was about as good as it was going to get in the short space of time he'd been working on it. _And so_; though his physique might have made you think otherwise, Big didn't actually pack away all that much at mealtimes – however, at this time in the morning, following a yesterday of very light lunches and a night of restless tossing and turning, he was more than in agreement with his stomach as it let out a mutinous growl; _onto breakfast – assuming it's still being served that is._

That realisation took his mind off getting something to eat; bereft of the normal indicators of time he was usually surrounded by, such as the sun and moon, Froggy's movements and the rising of the mosquitoes that he shared his swampland home with, Big had no way of telling what time it was, or even how long he'd been asleep. Swiftly pacing across the room to open the curtains failed to enlighten him; there was still a trace of darkness outside to be sure, but he was unable to tell if that was due to dawn not finished breaking or the morass of cloud that had smothered the sky like a blanket of slate-grey steel. A little ill-at-ease with this lack of knowledge, the cat considered his options and, after a little totting up in his mind, decided the best thing to do was get himself as presentable as was possible then go and do a little exploring; _I'm upstairs, I can vaguely remember half-falling, half-dragging myself upwards to get here before I finally conked out and if hotels are anything like I remember them they'll be serving meals and such like downstairs. Right then, phase one – get ready_; fortunately his room was ensuite, though it was a bit of a struggle to cram himself into the small ablutions block and any thoughts he may have had about having a shower vanished when he saw the size of the shower block provided; even if he could contrive to wedge himself in, he'd not be getting out again. Not without a hacksaw at any rate.

The sudden rush of heat on his face restored him to something close to feeling fully Mobian again; he'd let the tap run until the water was just below scalding point, taken a massive double-handful of the piping hot liquid and, pausing for just a second to inhale some of the aromatic steam it produced, splashed it all muzzle and face, massaging it into his recently parched skin and groaning in satisfaction as the warmth slowly percolated through his fatigued muscles. Rubbing his eyes once more, Big was still a little disconcerted to feel bags protruding from just underneath them but, thankfully, it appeared the effect of the hot water was beginning to deflate them a little; quickly reinforcing the first wave with a second, even hotter face-full, he let out a gasp of shock, dancing a short jig of pain before the water cascading down his face was cooled by the exposure to the air; _yeow, owow – man, the weather might be cold as a polar bear's nose but the water's hot enough to boil lobsters in – only one thing for it, from now on we shower outside._

The thought made him chuckle as he slipped on his gloves and buckled his belt around himself, gazing at the empty folds of leather where normally his favourite fishing lures would have dangled with regret; he'd had them so long, made most of them with his own two hands in fact, that it felt like he was missing an invisible sixth limb now they were left behind at Mystic Ruins. But, by the same token, if he had brought them with him and they'd have gotten lost or damaged, he would have had only himself to blame, so overall he'd felt it a risk not worth taking bringing them across the water. With a last, only slightly regretful sigh he pulled the belt to its normal, comfortable tightness and buckled it up, catching a quick glimpse of himself in the mirror as he reached down for his shoes and began lacing them up; _overall, not perfect a great deal better than last night at least. Put it like this_; standing tall and taking a long breath in as he stretched every inch of himself, the cat finished his thought in his own time, liking the sense it made and feeling slightly more energised by the realisation of its truth; _at least now you look something close to taking on the world – last night you must have looked like you'd gone ten rounds with it and come off by far the worse._ With this idea putting his position into perspective, Big hooked his thumbs into his belt to give it one last adjustment, unlocked the door to his room, slipped the key into his pocket and headed out into the hallways, looking for the stairs or the elevator that would take him towards where he could find something to appease his grumbling stomach.

XXX

Alone at her table, the armadillo took another sip of the drink she'd ordered with her breakfast, picking at her food here and there as her appetite had quite deserted here; even had it not, she doubted she'd have been able to find a lot of room in her belly with all the butterflies flitting around in there. She'd been nervous last night but, perhaps mercifully, both her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend had been too badly done in by the effects of air-travel to notice her unforgivable breech of manner – all right she'd had a right to be a little surprised by seeing just haw much the camera had been telling the truth but staring like that, and in the middle of a cosmopolitan airport as well? She should have known better no matter what the circumstances, and she knew she was going to apologise the second she got the chance to which, as long as Stefan's normal morning walk kept him occupied for its normal stretch of time, she should be able to provided the Mobian she'd wronged wasn't chained down by sleep for too much longer. _He was, in fact they both were in a pretty bad way last night_; with a shudder she recalled the horrible moment when Big had half-tumbled out of her husband's car and she'd been afraid they'd have to bodily carry him towards the rooms she'd booked out on his behalf – fortunately though he'd managed to find the strength to sway himself upright and stumble up the two flights of stairs between the front entrance of the hotel and his room; _and just as well – recessive genes or not I think even Stefan might have baulked at the idea of lugging him up fifty feet-worth of floors, family guest or otherwise_.

As they had been for the past fifteen minutes or so, Emily's eyes darted to the clock and back again, each movement making her teeth grind just a little harder; every minute lost was another opportunity lost, another sliver shaved off her window of opportunity to atone for her earlier error without her husband getting to know about it. More to take her mind off things than anything else she eyed what was left on her plate again, considered taking another mouthful of the congealing mess of cold porridge in her bowl and then shoved it away from her in frustration – no way she was going to eat anything more this morning, the water slowly swirling around in her stomach made sure of that. She just took tiny sips of her drink and checked off the time with a sense of ever-greater anxiety wearing away at her nerves; _come on, please_; her eyes darted away from the entrance to the dining hall to scan the clock face once more as she raised her glass to her lips; _I really need to get this out the way now, and a proper introduction if I can manage it_; seeing the second hand tick past only made her more uneasy and reluctantly she averted her eyes once more, the unsweeted juice suddenly even sourer as another few drops swilled into her mouth; _ I just want to…_

Only the fact that she was drinking at the time and the shock of the sight now awaiting her made her splutter a little saved her from falling into the same pothole twice in two days; hastily ducking her head and snatching up a napkin to wipe her the escaping flecks of orange juice from her lips, Emily whistled softly at her lucky escape from being caught staring again. With a determined breath in following her relieved sigh, the armadillo dared to look up once more, this time a little more prepared for the sight awaiting her and as such less prone to having her gaze sucked in by the invisible magnetism the cat seemed to attract unwanted attention with; _boy, but he really is a big cat isn't he?_ _I reckon I can see why my little girl found a flame for you_; there was no denying that, standing as he was in full view of the hotel's dining area, blearily scanning around for either a familiar face or a plate, Big looked to be one of the very few Mobians capable of at least holding his own against her dear daughter in a straight up and down ding-dong. But, as she observed him pick up a tray and accompanying condiments, she seriously doubted that was the only reason Mighty had chosen this particular Mobian to accompany her to one of the highlights of her social calendar.

Emily hadn't made it as far as she had in the cut-throat world she made her money in by not being able to analyse something beyond the obvious and break it down into potential flaws and advantages and, just by the look of him and taking into consideration how much his winter fur must have been bulking him out by, there was no way she'd ever claim that Big was in any way small. He also wasn't fat either, something she imagined a lot of people glanced who glanced at him assumed right off the bat; though he had a little padding around the middle, a swift viewing of his arms and, one of her eyebrows raised in something akin to coy appreciation as, having located the end of the breakfast queue the cat headed off to join it, especially his calves and thighs unearthed rich seams of rippling muscles, honed by the life Mighty had explained he led in her letters. A real outdoorMobian she had described him as – a fairly fair assumption as far as Emily was concerned from this cursory glance; he certainly moved with a fair amount of caution and almost exaggerated care of anything around him, almost as if he was used to everyday items such as chairs, tables and other diners not being present at all; _all that and at the size he is – it'll be entertaining seeing him waltz around the main table come the Christmas meal I can tell you. And no wonder he doesn't like flying at all – economy class must have been an absolute nightmare for him, but he went through it…_

Having made that quick connection her razor-sharp mind now cleaved into the possibilities the cat's conduct laid open for her; if aircraft were uncomfortable for him why had he acquiesced to fly all the way to Scotland from Station Square? Had it been solely for her daughter's sake or was it simply because, as he'd admitted last night through his jetlag, that he wasn't used to flying and had perhaps not known quite now much of a strain it was going to be on his over-proportioned body? Going on the evidence Mighty's letters had provided for her and what she'd seen so far she was sorely tempted to take up the former of these two conflicting possibilities but at the same time there was still the potential for doubt in her mind – after all, it wouldn't be the first time Mighty had been led down the rosy path of love only to find herself abandoned in the blasted glade of bereavement. Still, despite her normal business sense of erring on the side of caution Emily couldn't in all honesty bring herself to think ill of the cat she'd seen so far outright; there was just something about him that disarmed a hard-nosed approach, an open kind of honesty that, unlike the vast majority of Mighty's other potential squeezes, set her more at ease than on edge. _So you've got one tick in the box so far but that's the easy bit_; seeing the cat take his now-full tray from the counter top and smile over at where she was sat down, the armadillo honed her mind and tongue together, hoping to back up what her eyes had seen from the words she could elict from this early morning conversation; _at least, before my other half arrives._

"Well good morning, did you catch up on your kip all right?" She allowed a welcoming smile to blossom graciously on her face as she made her opening move; for his part, Big set his tray down and pulled out a chair, reaching down to press on the bottom of it to make sure it was sturdy enough to handle him as he replied in kind,

"Hullo, and yes thank you very much, very comfortable indeed. Still not a fan of flying though; fast it might be, convenient maybe but Mobian-friendly", he shook his head, a rueful chuckle rumbling up from his belly as he finally sat down, "definitely not, at least not to this Mobian".

"Nor this one, I don't like travelling by air either, but then a lot of the time I don't get a choice in the matter most of the time"; Big's smile merely grew as he stretched back in the seat for a minute before fixing his eyes on his breakfast hungrily,

"Yes, Mighty…" he tailed off, his eyelids falling shut for a moment as though he'd committed a great blasphemy by mentioning the other armadillo by name – just before Emily could query his silence, however, he picked up where he left off, his tone slightly more contrite than before, "I mean, of course, Michelle, told me you lead a bit of a jet-set lifestyle". _That was sharp_; Mighty must have tipped him off about her father's ridiculous naming convention and Emily raised her respect for him a little more for remembering such a trivial detail so early in the morning after a hectic night before; _might well be a bit more to you that meets the eye after all_;

"It's true enough, I do whizz around a lot it must be said, though nowhere near as much as I used to", breaking off her speech to have a sip more of her juice at the same time as plan exactly what she was going to say next, "I've taken a bit of a back seat truth be told, do more advising rather than advertising these days; lets me spend a bit more time at home putting my feet up rather than being rushed off them all the hours God sends". The cat chuckled before dipping his spoon into the bowl in front of him and drawing out a generous ladle-full of the steaming hot porridge it contained. Blowing on it to help it cool down, Big asked a question of his own between breaths,

"She never actually said what you did for a living to be perfectly honest; I figured out it was something to do with marketing but Michelle never really said more than that".

"Probably because she's not all that sure herself, and please, you can call her Mighty when I'm around; it's only his Highness that's got a bee in his bonnet about proper nomenclature and all that rubbish. Anyway, about me", not quite sure if this conversation was going where she'd planned it to go, Emily found herself having to walk a tightrope between telling the truth and trying not to make that truth sound too self-congratulatory, "actually I've got Mighty to thank for making me a success; I used to be a, heh, well in all honesty my old job used to be so boring I can't remember what it was, but when she came along and I dropped out of the rat-race for a couple of years I discovered I had a bit of a knack for a making up slogans for places and other businesses. Anyway, in between changing nappies and reading bedtime stories", Big had to virtually fold his lips inside out to make sure he wasn't going to splutter with laughter at the thought of the formidable armadillo he was used to as an infant, pinned down under a duvet by the combined might of encroaching sleep and the derr-doing of a valiant Prince Charming as she tried to hear the end of the tale being spun by her mother, a fact not lost on Emily as she finished her story, "I just sent some designs into a couple of places, got accepted for a few designs here and there; of course when the dot-com boom took off I was able to go global – got lucky as well, pulled out just before it all went completely bust with ninety-nine percent of my commissions in one piece and a pretty good team behind me that I was able to run from my own home. In fact now that I think about it I was a bit of a trend-setter, one of the original, er, the original, oh what was the name we got labelled with in that paper? The…?"

"Female entrepreneur?" Big suggested; Emily glanced over and shook her head, still wracking her brain to remember that catchy little title; it had suited her rise to fame to a tee,

"No; come on, we've had them since the cave-Mobian days; you blokes might have made the spear to bring the meat back to the fires but who was it who invented the broom to clear up afterwards?" _True enough_; Big wasn't going to argue that point as it made sense to him, "no, it was…that's it", her face brightened and she snapped her fingers, the name coming back to her in an instant, "a kitchen-table tycoon; mum on maternity with an idea that turned out a bit of a money-spinner".

"And good luck to her; sounds like you manage to come good doing something you love"; _just like me in fact – gotta love a rub of the green when it comes along_; Big commented, the last few drops of his porridge on his way down, save for the odd few flecks that clung irritatingly to his whiskers, "ah, 'scuse me a minute". Bringing up his hand to cover the lower half of his face, the cat whipped his tongue up and along his besmirched whiskers, the natural roughness of that particular muscle in his body scouring off the remaining porridge oats more efficiently than any hand towel that had ever been made. However, even that pause, short as it had been, was more than long enough for a seasoned business practitioner such as Emily to prepare and phrase her next query,

"Ach, true enough I did; what about you though? Sounds like sleeping beauty up there was a bit shy on the details to both of us equally", Big echoed the armadillo's slight chuckle as he followed her pointing finger upwards through the floor above them to where Mighty must have still been catching up on her lost sleep. He was careful not to leave the pause too long though, steepling his massive palms under his chin even if he was careful to keep his elbows off the table to avoid bad manners,

"Well, at the minute at least, not got an actual job a such"; _thought that might happen_; almost without meaning to he saw the flare of suspicion that detonated behind Emily's eyes, knowing her line of thinking and recognising it as a mother's instinct to look out for her daughter as best she could; _but I also know how to deal with that sort of thinking_; acting on this and leaving only the barest pause between his words and the seamless transition between his admission that he was by the letter of the law actually jobless and his explanation that this fact didn't automatically qualify him as a hopeless deadbeat, "I'm an apprentice at the moment, just learning my trade as it were; truth be told I was about as lucky as you were, found an opportunity in an area I love and just as well too, it's not something you can learn at university, needs to be taught hands-on as far as I'm concerned".

"Oh aye", interest a little more than purely professional and maternal now, the armadillo fished around fro a little more information, "what are you training in then; engineering of some sort?"

"In a way, I'm learning how to make picture frames and then frame the pictures properly; just getting used to the wooden frames right now, how to varnish them to give the proper finish – after that, moving onto metal work".

"Picture framing?" _Never even suspected that one – he looks like he could be a lot of things but an artist isn't one of them_; after a second of thinking Emily managed to dismiss the nonplussed look from her features and give an accepting shrug; _mind you, I bet a lot of people wouldn't have thought I could have built a successful business up from scratch – just goes to show we can all get it wrong_; "I'll be honest and say I never thought of that one; mind you, I suppose it must a very specialised niche market".

"True but once I get good at it and have a reputation I'll never be out of work", the cat smiled, taking a reassuring gulp of his cup of tea and smacking his lips at the flavour he never got to experience all that often, "ah, good brew that one, but anyway it's like midwives, nurses and undertakers – people are always going to want their pictures protected in the same way they're always going to be being born, getting ill and eventually going down for the deep six. Like Mr Trenton said, once people know where you are and they know they can rely on you you've got a job for life; must be similar for you in fact", Emily looked up sharply as Big rebounded his point onto her, "you must have a loyal base of customers you've worked with over the years – what is it they say about business, substance over style every time, something like that?"

"Something like that", the armadillo repeated, somewhat stunned as she suddenly realised that she was dealing with a Mobian who could talk, and in fact actually was talking to her as an equal rather than falling into the usual pattern of either going completely quiet around her or, even more infuriatingly from her point of view, talking non-stop and not letting her get a word in edgeways. _It was always the chatterboxes she brought home_; a couple of examples popped up in her mind and made her shell plates grate together; _they really rubbed me up the wrong way, and Stefan never much cared for those who didn't know when it was time to sit still and shut up_; "and yes, we do have a couple of businesses we've worked with for years and who come to us every time they've got a new product they want to release and need to make a bit of a splash for it first. Adroitly put; I doff my cap to you sir", Big beamed at the praise as Emily nodded in his direction and raised her glass before another of her daughter's boasts about the cat in front of her whispered from her memory banks, "but, and please if you'd rather not say don't answer me, but is it true what my little girl says, that you've got your own place, your little 'rural bachelor pad' I think she christened it when she was talking to me at least. How'd you manage that, especially in Station Square; I heard the property prices around there had just gone up?"

_Rural bachelor pad_; oh he was going to have to get the armadillo for that little description; _unless she was referring to Froggy of course_. The thought made him chuckle for a second before he realised that the armadillo that was currently his breakfast companion took precedence over the armadillo who wasn't here at the moment, and the armadillo that was here currently was waiting for an answer; clearing his throat, Big flirted with the idea of being a little creative with the truth before dismissing that idea and deciding honesty was the best policy,

"Well, she's right and she's wrong at the same time"; _this'll be interesting to hear then_; not quite able to see how this explanation was going to pan out, Emily tuned in fully to hear the cat's version of his current situation, "yes I've got somewhere to live, and I don't pay a mortgage on it either, but that's because I made it myself, well, with a couple of helping hands from my family as well. It's also not actually in Station Square; ever heard of a place called Mystic Ruins?"

"Err", her mind being simultaneously diverted by attempting to answer his question at the same time as wonder how a Mobian as young as Big was had been able to afford to build his own piece of the property market never mind own a stake in it, Emily found herself stumped for an answer, "no, that one's not crossed my path; good walking spot at all? I like hiking when I get a bit of time to myself", she neatly answered his unspoken question before he could frame it, though she had a second to wonder why that comment sent Big's shoulders shaking for a moment before he managed to pull himself together to reply to her question,

"It can be, especially in summer when it's a bit drier; come the autumn and winter it's more swamp and jungle than leafy glade and forest I can tell you – Mighty never enjoyed walking around there much"; _possibly more to do with her never being able to find her way around than actively disliking it outright, but I digress_; "but my place is pretty much slap-bang in the middle of it all. It's…well it's a bit hard to explain actually", reaching back to scratch behind one of his ears, Big tried to come up with a way to explain his unique set-up that would appease Emily's thirst for knowledge, "I suppose it's something close to the ultimate eco-house; it's mostly built up around a lot of thick tree trunks, I re-thatch the roof every year to make sure nothing gets round to living up there and the floor's carpeted by old rushes – completely medieval, I'm first to admit, but I like it". _And, more importantly, I've never heard Mighty complain_; he'd have easily uprooted himself had she asked him to but as of yet she'd never even suggested he reappraise his situation for her benefit, a fact he hoped would continue for the foreseeable future, at least until he'd had a few years studying under Mr Trenton and felt himself ready to set up his own business. Glancing across the table to see how well his description had gone down, the cat quickly hid a smile as he felt he could almost see the notion picking its way through the forehead of the Mobian sat opposite him; Emily, as he'd expected, was finding it difficult to comprehend living so far away from civilisation in such an inhospitable environment. He was expecting her to whisper some sort of query to demand clarification for this walk on the wild side so, when her eyes cleared and she merely gave a gruff chuckle he was caught slightly off-guard, her words only serving to unsettle him still further,

"Sounds like you're living every boy's dream there feller; on your own, no nosy landlord looking over your shoulder and not having most of your income each month swallowed up in mortgage and bill payments, and out in the great outdoors as the icing on the cake".

That was a novel point of view, especially compared to the other people he'd confided his way of life to; most of them had simply stared at them as if he were stark-raving mad and edged backwards to get away from him – someone who, if not outright agreed with his lifestyle, was at least ready to accept it as an equally valid choice for living in a modern world. In fact the more he thought about it the more sense it made – eventually, much like the smile that had bloomed irresistibly across his face, the cat felt himself capitulate towards armadillo's take on his situation; _armadillo logic, gotta love it_;

"My turn to doff my cap to you I see", Big inclined his head as Mighty's mother had moments before, giving the armadillo reason to smile herself as he continued, "you have no idea how many odd looks I get from people who know that – they must think I'm some kind of new-age hermit and 'not quite right in the head'". _Perfect – thanks you just reminded me what I was here to say in the first place_; with a low, whistling exhalation Emily quickly seized on the reminder Big had unwittingly thrown her way before she could contrive to forget about it again,

"Aye I can guess, and I have to apologise for increasing the number by one last night", the cat glanced over, she lowered her head still further in embarrassment, "caught me completely wide-eyed you did, both of you; I mean she'd sent us a picture but even I wasn't expecting the camera to tell that…"

"Save it", Big forestalled the need for further recriminations with a raised hand, "you think I don't get plenty of that just walking down the street of my home town? I barely notice being looked at any more – you're far from the first Em, though I have to say not many are honest enough to own up like you did – don't worry about it, I'm certainly not. Tell you what, make you a bet; we're hopefully going to be at this hotel-thingy of yours tonight aren't we, got about three or four days left to the main event from what Mighty was telling me right?"

This she really hadn't been expecting; rather than a world-weary explanation or a curt dismissal, he was turning her attempt at reparations into something dangerously close to a dare. It was a world away from the doom-and-gloom scenarios that had been playing dismally in her mind at the start of the day, and it was also just the fuel her street-sharp business edge, usually blunted at this time of year, needed to raise its head and take and interest in proceedings – under its guidance, Emily pursed her lips and leant forwards, regarding the cat with a warily appraising eye,

"Three or four is right", she conceded that truth without a fight before moving into the more juicy meat of his proposal, "why, what's your game then?"

"I'll bet you", the cat never let his eyes leave her face as he delivered his challenge the same way he'd present his lure to a particularly wary trout, "that between the time we arrive and Christmas morning, in fact no, I'll be fair and say Christmas Eve morning, that the number of armadillos from your family who've been caught staring at me is in double figures – if it's not, your first drink on Christmas morning's on me. Sound like an idea?" _I think something's biting, or about to bite at least_; going on the experience he had with Mighty, the cat was reasonably sure he'd inflamed Emily's interest with that sort of offer, she was certainly giving it serious consideration as she was silent for the better part of a minute before she gave back her own terms and conditions,

"Not bad in principle at least, but let's have a little clarification here shall we?"

"You're the expert – I'm no businessMobian"; _shame, I reckon you'd make a good one if you weren't quite so honest_;

"Perhaps, but anyway, these ten of my lot you're going to try and catch out, no kids count I assume; oh that's anyone under twelve by the way, teenagers aught to know better manners, or at least Mighty did at that age", she couldn't quite speak for the rest of them but Emily was prepared to take a gamble that most of her numerous nieces and nephews could control their wandering eyes slightly better than they could their rampaging hormones, "but aside from that, looks to be a good idea, but I want names though", Big raised an eyebrow and she elaborated, "everyone you catch with slack jaws; I need to know who's heads to bang together come the twenty-fourth if I lose".

"That's cruel", Big tried and failed to say with a straight face, reaching over the table to shake the shapely hand offered to him, sealing the pact between them both, "funny but cruel".

"Funny but cruel", the armadillo repeated as their handshake broke, a look of consideration on her face before she gave a wicked grin, "thanks for that one Big guy – a ready-made eye-catcher if ever there was one".

XXX

_I have to hand it to her_; the rest of the morning seemed to have faded out to the point where she was barely able to feel apprehensive either about Stefan's late return from his morning walk or Mighty's extended lie-in making them run late for arrival at the Steppes, all due to the company she was currently keeping; _this time I think she really picked herself a winner_. Once more her eyes had been opened to the benefits of keeping an open mind rather than simply shelling up and sticking to your immediate prejudices; no doubt a lot of people would have found Big a little weird, something the combination of his appearance and his peculiarly quaint beliefs would do little to dispel at first she had to admit, he was in many ways one of the most completely all-round Mobians she'd ever met. Every avenue she explored, from fine arts and crafts (something she was sure was a hobby of his), to horse racing (something she was equally as sure wasn't), he had some little insight or light-hearted quip to illuminate the topic, more often than not a little nugget of information she'd never had given thought or credence to that only made more sense when he explained in more detail. He'd obviously had a lot of fingers in a great many different-flavoured pies, though quite how that could be she had no way of knowing – even as she wracked her brain for an answer all she could seem to remember was Mighty's letters telling her that overall her new boyfriend was rather a shy, retiring type; _but if that's the case, how does he know half of what he knows?_ Skilfully keeping her face neutral, the armadillo paid a little more attention as, finishing his impromptu lecture on the importance of spiders in nature and sure it wouldn't sway her apparent phobia of the mostly-inoffensive arachnids, Big did a little probing of his own, seeking to uncover a little more about what he was going to be going to come the end of the day as even towards the end of their journey towards the airport Mighty had been as sly and secretive as it was possible for her to be, keeping him in the dark with half-spoken promises about him enjoying the surprise more if he didn't know what was coming. _And surprises might be all well and good_; though prepared to concede that point, the cat wasn't stupid enough to rush headlong into virgin territory without getting a bit of an intelligence brief first; _but no way am I going in there completely blind_;

"Still a bit away isn't it, this place we're all off to?" He'd hoped his tone was merely conversational; if it wasn't it seemed Emily either hadn't noticed or was too polite to point out his lack of discretion as she answered candidly,

"Yeah, a fair old drive but we've been lucky, roads are still pretty clear so far; I tell you, one year, and not all that far back either come to that, Mighty wasn't with us that year but we got snowed in, blizzard swept across the highlands in the blink of an eye; all we could do was get somewhere safe and sit it out".

"You were on the road?"

"Oh yeah", Emily nodded truthfully, the disbelief on Big's face starting to be repealed as he saw she wasn't making the whole thing up through her body language, "it can still happen up here Big; if the weather closes in and you're out there in the open you're in real trouble. Even now we always keep an emergency pack in the back of the car we rent out just in case; that time we were lucky, managed to crawl up to the nearest roadside café and bundle inside until it cleared up; if we'd been any more than a couple of miles from that stop-station we'd have been waiting it out in the car. Blizzard raged in all day and most of the night, they only reopened the road next day after the sweepers had gone through the worst of it, even then they were telling people to grit and chain their tyres".

"That good?" Big shivered even through his thickened fur, the tremor not caused by cold as he imagined such a scenario in his mind, "hope it doesn't happen this time; airplanes I can just about manage but there's no way I'm going to be able to crash in a Little Chef or anywhere like that; come on if I roll about in the middle of the night someone could get crushed". Emily snickered before managing to reassert control of herself and wave away his fears,

"Don't worry, that shouldn't happen this year, it's been a mild one so far; anyway, if the weather does close in at least we've got our own snowplough with us; just hand Mighty a couple of baking trays and strap her to the front bumper and we'll be going again in no time".

"True enough; where is this place we're going again? Mighty said your family's had roots down here for a good number of years and you all book into the same hotel overnight, assuming it is your family rather than Stefan's that's all a part of this whole thing?" _So it is your side then_; just by the look that broke over her face like the sun from behind a heavy rain cloud, the cat was certain of the answer he'd be receiving,

"Oh yes, it's definitely my bunch that get this whole show on the road every year. We've had family out here in the highlands since around, um…oh I don't know, have to check the old tapestry to remember the exact date but the fact of the matter is the Highland Steppes, that's the name of the place by the way, was built on the ancestral ground of my distant ancestors, some minor baron or other back in the day. Used to be a small keep there or something similar, can't remember exactly and none of us are really too bothered about the ancient history now, but as the times became more enlightened the old castle fell into disrepair and ruin like a lot of old places these days do now; our old one was lucky though, got taken over and turned around by one of the old enemy just after Culloden, part of some deal or other he'd made with the king to make sure he turned with up his troops on time. Of course back then most of the land was running wild and there was no money to be made out the place, not enough peasants to tax to make it worthwhile, so all he did really was make sure a sturdy guesthouse and small chapel were made up for any who needed it in the winter months, almost a custom in the day, and he left it pretty much at that. Eventually, after decades of changing hands and continual renovation, that old guesthouse became the Highland Steppes, basically a mock-up of a traditional Scottish noblemen's house with plenty of spare bedrooms for tourists. Just after the first great war one of my great-grandfathers discovered the Steppes and managed to link our history with the place; after looking at some of the oldest maps and accounts and comparing them to the location of the hostel he convinced the rest of my family that the Steppes actually was all that was left of our history – we've been returning there ever since every year, got a really good relationship with the current proprietors, they get us a discount nowadays, we're their finest customers. Really nice people…for Sassenachs".

"Hey now that's not very nice", Big pointed out mock-reproachfully as Emily's eyes flashed at the name, "racial stereotyping and all that; we're supposed to all be beyond that now".

"Ah they get used to it; they might have picked up a bit of an accent from living up in Scotland for so long but they'll never be able to get away from the fact they were born in the lowlands, well, the older ones at least. I understand some of their children are Scots born and bred. But fun and games aside now Big, you'll love it there I guarantee it", the cat had to glance down for a moment, the armadillo's smile reminding him for a second of his mother's own face and sending a spasm of weakening homesickness through his innards; it was a long few seconds before he could swallow the lump in his throat and manage to look up again though thankfully Emily hadn't seemed to notice the pause, caught up in her description of the place she had been enchanted by as a child and never truly grown up from, "it's old, every inch of it's full of the past; if it could talk you could listen for a hundred years and you'd still never hear a half of what those old walls had seen. Everything's done traditionally there, the furniture's wooden, traditional – none of this cheap plastic muck you get nowadays, and the grounds", her hands clasped together, the memory so vivid in her mind she could almost feel the winter breeze on her face and duck as snowballs whistled past her ears, "they're huge, fifteen, twenty acres at least and that's not including the loch they back onto; no word of a lie I once tried to walk around the whole park one Christmas, from dawn until dusk; never got more than halfway before my dad had to come get me on his scooter. Do you fish at all?"

"Umm", caught out by the sudden question Big had to regather his tongue before he could answer fully, "yeah, yeah I do; oh of course, the loch, I almost forgot that was Scottish for lake".

He'd done no such thing of course; that little white lie was merely cover to hide his disappointment at not to bring his fishing tackle with him; had he known this Highland Steppes place had had access to a prime fishing spot he'd have been able to see how his lures fared in the colder, rougher water up here compared to the rather more tranquil streams and brooks around his homes. _Still, no great loss overall_; giving a mental shrug Big forced such thoughts to the back of his mind – so he wasn't going to get a chance this time around, so what? That just meant he'd get to spend more time with Mighty, and anyway there was always the possibility of next year to consider – in fact overall the armadillo omitting that detail from what she'd told him of her yearly gathering was probably a good thing, it'd be nice to get a bit of a break from the same thing for a few weeks,

"Well I'm sure old Reuben would be able to lend you some of his gear if you wanted to give it a try; he's mad keen on the old hook-and-sinker is my great-uncle and that's for sure. You see him in the morning whistling as he heads out, comes back in the night-time reeking of fish and the couple he's had in the local next door". _Sounds like a Mobian I could get on with_; taking a note of the name just in case he got the opportunity, the cat tapped the tips of his fingers together before deciding to restate the aims he'd made up his mind on a few seconds ago, just to set the older Mobians mind a little more at ease,

"If it happens it happens I suppose, but I'm there with Mighty; I'm not going to be rushing off at first light and leaving her on her tod – it's her celebration after all, I'm just the guest". It looked like he'd said the right thing; at his last statement Emily had brought her eyes up to his, meeting his gaze head-on as if trying to size up what he'd said and see how far he was willing to press that point. Big kept his face as blank as he could make it, trying desperately not to look too eager in case he was accused of faking his promise, but eventually, after a long moment of soul-searching the armadillo let her gaze drop. And as she did so, the bells of interest that had been quietly tinkling in the back of Big's mind for most of the morning finally woke up and started blaring in full voice.

"Emily?" She looked across at her name; Big toyed with his empty teacup as he tried to think of a way to phrase his next query delicately – it was, after all, quite a personal question, "not wanting to sound at all rude but I just noticed, or in fact I just figured out would probably be more accurate, your eyes…" He tailed off for a moment as the other details now came flooding in – compared to her daughter the differences were both startling and, now that he'd finally started to pick up on them at last, obvious. Those eyes then hardened for a moment, the armadillo's voice dropping a little as she tried to discover the reason behind his sudden discomfort,

"Yes, what about them?"

"Well, I just noticed, just now when you looked up, they reflected the light", they had, and as they did so again as she leant back in her seat to scrutinise the ceiling Big felt himself relieved that he hadn't been seeing things earlier, "is that normal for armadillos – I just never noticed it with Mighty, that was all".

"And I doubt you ever would; no it's not normal for us, but then again I'm a bit of a unique case"; _how so – oh I hope it's not a medical complaint_;

"How so?" Again keeping his tone politely curious the cat peered across the table, crossing his fingers underneath the cloth as she looked up cunningly, slightly more a devil in her demeanour than before as she gave her answer in a slow, sultry drawl,

"Because I'm not fully armadillo; got some other blood in my family tree, different species. Any idea which?" It was a challenge meant for him, no mistake about that; taking up the gauntlet Big tried to see the answer in her mirrored eyes and slightly coarser facial fur compared to her daughter, that combination suggesting a predator's approach in her gene-pool, but which one?

"Err", one of her ears flicked and, seeing the slight tapering at the point of the organ instead of the more rounded shape Mighty had, a sudden image of Tails flickered up in the cat's memory; having nothing better to go on, he opted for it, "fox?"

"Coyote – close though", she admitted with something close to respect in her voice, "my grandmother was one". Big raised his eyes in surprise – an injection of different genes so recently should have resulted in more shared characteristics so soon after the event in a generational sense,

"That so – you don't seem to have a lot in common with them, apart from your eyes of course, but only then if someone's looking at them right". Emily shrugged,

"I know – for some reason armadillo genes seem to be a lot stronger than most other species, I mean Mighty's what, one-eighth coyote and you'd never know it looking at her. Most kids from mixed partnerships end up being classed as armadillos – you know about the genealogy and classification schemes as they stand right?"

"Yeah; I mean it's been a while but they taught us about it in school…"

"Ah, excellent; after years of trying it appears Michelle has finally managed to find herself an educated Mobian".

XXX

Both Big and Emily jumped as the new voice cut into the conversation like an icicle dagger; it was soft and mild, in some ways at least, but it also held within it a sharpened edge that suggested it could very easily transmogrify itself into a much more cutting tone at a seconds' notice. Strange and alien as the voice itself might have sounded however, as Big glanced over at the direction of its origin at the same time as clamp a hand over his furiously hammering heart, he quickly came to realise that it very astutely matched the face of its owner. The same cold, mean eyes he had glimpsed for a split-second in the rear view mirror the previous night now fixed on his again, hidden in shadow by the shell hood that eclipsed part of this new armadillo's brow; Big felt his eyebrows poke upwards a little as he subconsciously overlapped silhouettes from the two armadillos he knew already over this stranger and recognised that this new specimen was somehow a lot narrower than either Mighty or her mother. In fact Stefan, for Big was under no illusions as to who this latest arrival was as he knew Mighty's full name, seemed to look stretched and wiry, out of proportion somehow; his face was narrow and his eyes set closely together, the point where his neck met the trunk of his body wasn't easy to distinguish without concentrated observation and his legs somehow seemed to be too long for the body they were dually supporting. Even his shell, a smoky grey colour rather than the usual black the cat had come to associate with armadillos, appeared to be warped and compressed oddly, looking a lot more elliptical than it should have been; all in all, his strange appearance and the sudden manner of his arrival on the scene was more than enough to throw the cat off track for a moment, a moment Stefan made sure he never recovered as he pulled himself out a chair and sat down at the table without invitation.

"Good morning Master cat", his voice was a slow, steady drawl, each word measured with precision accuracy before being released into the world, every syllable pronounced with just enough force to make it seem a challenge but not enough to be considered outright provocation, "I am Stefan Armadillo, and this is my wife Emily", the Mobian the cat had been speaking to up until recently gave a weak smile before her husband faced him again, blue-green eyes almost seeming to dissect the cat where he sat as he phrased his next question, "you already know my daughter Michelle?"

It was an unnecessary question; if it hadn't been for the aforementioned Michelle Armadillo why the hell would he be here in the first place? Temper already irked by the manner in which this Mobian had pompously butted in on what had been a private conversation, Big was just about to point this fact out cuttingly when he suddenly forced himself to stay quiet, reconsider his options – shooting his mouth off was just what Stefan wanted him to do. _I'm going to have to watch my step around him_; Stefan might have been rude and almost overbearingly arrogant in his introduction, but he was in no way stupid or blind to the consequences of his actions – Big had the impression of someone to whom finding out information about people, and then using that information to test them to their absolute breaking point, was second nature and, as such, raised his mental guard and quickly locked his temper in check; _blow a gasket here and I blow my chance with Mighty as far as he's concerned_;

"Yes I know her pretty well", the cat with almost exaggerated politeness he didn't really feel; something about this Mobian was just rubbing him up the wrong way, "and I'm very grateful to her for the invite to this celebration of yours".

"Actually my partners", Stefan was quick to correct him airily, one of his hands wafting towards where Emily was peering into the depths of her glass, not looking up as her husband continued, "like you I count myself as one of the guests despite having married into the family; don't worry though", those eyes raked over him again, the cat having to stifle the growl in his throat as Stefan continued in that faintly unpleasant, nasal twang, "I'm sure you'll make a fine addition to the menagerie that assembles up there every December the twenty-fifth".

"Stefan", Emily cut in, the split-second distraction giving Big enough time to recollect his cool as the grey-shelled armadillo flicked his attention back to his wife for a moment, "please, Big's probably already nervous…"

"And with good reason…"

"How so?" _My turn now Stefan – I can throw spanners in the works as well as you can pal_; despite the thoughts in his mind Big was careful to keep his expression colourless as he finished his query, "as far as I can see this isn't anything to get worried about, it's a new opportunity to meet a new variety of people from all over the world. Michelle was very keen to let me know that her family's dispersed all over the globe now – is it true some of your family from the Americas will be turning up this year?" Apparently re-energised by the new attention after her husbands' arrival had taken the wind from her sails, Emily leant forwards to answer enthusiastically,

"Yeah they will be – even got a new addition to bring with them this time around; Clark I think they called him in the end". Stefan snorted at the name, something like a smile on his face as for the first time since his arrival he made something like a funny comment,

"Only in America", even his mirth seemed to be caustic and cutting; Big was already beginning to have serious reservations about spending four or so hours in a car with this Mobian before like a snake with its tail trodden on Stefan had spun and lashed his next question towards him, "but on the context of names, Big the cat – rather an unusual first choice by your parents?" _You are really starting to get on my nerves_; normally possessed of an even temper, the backhanded slight towards his mother's judgement was enough to get the cat's back up, a point emphasised by the undercurrent of terseness in his answer,

"Truth be told I was meant to be Bill, after my father, but there was a misunderstanding at the registry office and it only came to light that they'd mistyped it after my birth certificate had been printed and registered. It would have been a real hassle for my family to try and get it changed at the time; I'm not sure how it works now but back when I was born it was a lot harder to change your name than it is now, so they had to let it lie. Besides", the cat gave a shrug, leaning back in his chair slightly, a little more casual in his attitude, slightly more insolent in a bid to goad the insufferable armadillo before him and seeing from the black shadow that flitted momentarily across Stefan's face that he'd succeeded, "didn't do anyone any harm – if anything it turned out to be a pretty accurate prediction". _That nailed him_; he'd guessed the grey armadillo had been planning to ask him if he'd ever considered changing his name by Depoll and try to mark him out as lazy or stupid if he'd replied he hadn't. The pause before Stefan's answer to his most recent statement told the cat that he'd given an accurate guess on that count and he permitted himself a pat on the back for foiling that particular attack,

"So I see"; sensing the pause deepening, Emily decided to solve two problems at once; standing up from the table, she both made sure the pause before they could all get underway was as short as possible at the same time as make herself scarce from the two sparring men before her as she made her excuses to depart,

"Well, I'll just go and get our daughter moving; I know she likes her beauty sleep but if we're going to make it before dark we're going to have to make a move soon".

"Very true, it is rather bracing out there, though the forecast didn't predict any snow for later in the day", Stefan conceded that point and inclined his head as though giving Emily permission to leave his company, "anyway, Michelle has passed the point where beauty sleep would do any good – she needs beauty hibernations these days".

Only the fact that Stefan was Mighty's father, and even then only just that fact, was enough to stop Big unloading on him properly; even Emily managed a withering look before turning her back on him abruptly and stalking away towards the stairwell. _I did wonder why Mighty didn't like her parents – that was a bloody stupid question_; the cat didn't even want to consider what trying to live with someone like this for about eighteen years must have been like; _he's just a rasp, wearing away at you constantly and horribly. Beauty hibernations_; Big tried desperately not to let his rage show on his face, grateful only that Mighty wasn't present when he'd said such a thing; _what would that have done for her self-confidence?_

"You must think me a bad-tempered old man"; only at the voice did Big actually blink and look around to see Stefan regarding him with cruel humour in his eyes; obviously he hadn't been disguising his thoughts as well as he thought he'd been, "but I'm only saying the truth – we armadillos aren't renowned for our looks, it's one of the downsides of our species". _Not for your looks huh?_; Big raised an eyebrow as he considered his answer; _I can think of one armadillo who's not well renowned for his personality either_;

"How long has it been since you saw your daughter last? Are you sure we're talking about the same armadillo; she looks great to me".

"Love, or perhaps even attraction, always makes the world seem rose-tinted; I learnt a long time ago to look beyond that illusion", Stefan commented, his eyes never leaving the cat's slit pupils as he leaned across the table slightly, "I'm actually impressed she managed to talk someone in to accompanying her to this palaver – I find it more bother than it's worth most of the time".

"I'm more impressed she invited me", Big countered succinctly, "she's got a choice of at least three others she could have asked and who'd have all said yes, maybe even four if you count her boss"; _Rouge wouldn't have minded_; Knuckles, along with any of the other Mobians of the Chaotix, would have been more than happy to make sure their team-mate didn't feel out of place amongst her own family, the cat was sure of that, "she could have just clicked her fingers and they'd have signed up to this, lack of looks or otherwise".

"Finally, she seemed to have learnt something about the fine art of diplomacy; a little late maybe but better that than never I suppose", Stefan spoke a moment later after giving the comment a little thought, ending in a shrug, "if her tongue was as sharp as her arms are strong she might be in a better position than she is now; she'd never have had to leave Saracens, could have got in well with the private equity company that took them over".

"She might have, but she'd have hated every minute of it"; _she couldn't do a desk job as well you and I both know_; seeking to steer the conversation away from ground were Stefan held the edge, Big remembered back to another fact Mighty had mentioned that he could spin to deflate the armadillo opposite him, "anyway, doesn't she have you to be thankful for that great strength of hers; it's a recessive trait in armadillos isn't it?"

"Of course it is, we're not all the mindless brawn-boxes that everyone seems to think we are", he snapped back irritably; _ouch, so that hit a nerve then_; "it was merely unlucky that the partner I picked had a copy of these genes as well and Michelle inherited them from us both; she'd have been better to have my shell colour and Emily's strength. You were taught about dominance and inheritance genetics I assume?"

"You assume right", the cat nodded with a self-satisfied smile that only seemed to deepen the glower in Stefan's eyes, his refusal to speak as properly as the armadillo was antagonising the older Mobian no end, "we learnt a lot of other stuff too, much of it not a lot of use in later life admittedly; in fact the most important lessons I learnt were the ones from the playground".

_As I suspected_; the armadillo felt his eyes narrow; _another layabout and day-dreamer – she needs to find someone more worthwhile than this_; still, he was supposed to play the honest host and, grudgingly, did so,

"And what, priceless, lessons were these then? I'm assuming they were more than just how to perform a decent celebration following a slam-dunk and the proper form for insulting teachers behind their backs?"

"Again you assume right, though you shouldn't assume too much, could make an ass out of you and me both", the cat smiled; too late Stefan sensed the fall he'd been set up for and could only brace himself for it, "the lesson I learnt was how to pick your friends…"

The armadillo felt his gaze held this time around, Big finally meeting him eye to eye as his ears picked up a very faint rumbling from the area Emily had disappeared to and he knew he had to make this quick,

"…Because you can't pick your parents".

XXX

_Who forgot to tune me in?_; seeing only the blurry picture before her Mighty blinked again at the same time another touch settled on her cheek and helped fire some neurones back into life, lingering tiredness making her eyelids heavy even after her extended lie-in.

"Yur, whe…I'm up, up"; it was as she made to sit up and felt someone who had been sitting down on the bed next to her lift themselves off again that there was a reply to her groggy first-morning speech,

"An' I'm glad about that", barely listening, Mighty rubbed her eyes and screwed her face shut as the flecks of sleep there gouged her eyelids painfully, "thought for a minute I was going to have to whip off the blankets and open the window". Finally clearing her vision, the prostrate armadillo opened one eye to glare balefully at where her mother stood smirking slyly,

"You open that window and you'll be going out of it; urgh, what time is it?"

"Don't know, not seen a clock but they've just finished serving breakfast downstairs. Anyway, we'd better be getting a move on, if we leave it too much longer we'll be late as it is and your father's getting impatient". Mighty gave an unimpressed snort, settling back under the blankets as she huffed at her mother,

"When's he ever been patient?" Emily gave a shrug as the younger of the two Mobians waved away a yawn before returning to the topic in hand, "still, at least he'll get his morning walk before we have to start driving, save us all getting an earache from that".

"Oh aye, he's been for a walk already, just got back and had a bite to eat as well; he's downstairs with that boy of yours, I left them to it to get…"

Emily never finished that sentence, instead jumping backwards as Mighty exploded up from the covers, the blankets going everywhere as Mighty hastily stood tall and fired questions off at her mother, grabbing the top of her nightshirt as she did so and yanking it roughly over her head,

"What, Big's downstairs with dad? How did you…you can't leave them alone", she paused for breath just long enough to finish undressing and look around wildly for her regular clothes, "you know what he's like, Big'll run a mile".

"He's got to get used to it love, Stefan's not going to change"; _like I haven't been trying in over twenty years of marriage?_; the old pangs of bitterness rose for a second before she could choke them down and continue her speaking, "besides", she paused again, this time to press herself against the wall as Mighty charged past like a bull in a china shop, heedlessly grabbing articles of clothing and racing with herself to put them on right, "looked like he was giving as good as he got, what's the harm?"

"The harm?" Mighty didn't even turn around as she answered, hopping clumsily on one leg as she tried to hastily jam her socks onto her feet, "mum you don't understand, and this is about more than dad just being an absolute pain in the tail; it's about Big, he's..."for the first time since her rush began she slowed down a fraction, and slowly revolved on the spot to face her mother; as she saw her face, Emily lost the hint of light-heartedness she'd had about the whole venture and became more sombre – obviously this was a very big deal to her little girl,

"He's what Michelle? Special to you, not like those other idiots you wasted your time on?"

"He's always been that – none of the others would have stepped in against someone coming at me with a knife"; that was true enough – again employing the same story they used with Big's family was both easy to remember and would make the whole thing water-tight in the unlikely event that the two families ever started getting together; _and anyway, against Metal Sonic they'd have either run a mile or passed out completely_; "but it's more than that – mum, don't tell anyone else at the family what I'm about to tell you, not even Nessie, Big'll tell them in his own time".

"Right"; _not even her – this must be really serious. I hope he hasn't got a record or anything stupid like that_; though she was the first to admit her family could never be accused of being completely snow-white, the cat she'd shared a table with not fifteen minutes ago just didn't seem the type, "okay Might, not a word to anyone".

"Big's, well he's unique, he doesn't forget anything; no I mean it, he's got a perfect memory", everyone laughed when they first heard about it, or quoted about how useful it must be; Mighty was always the one to put them on the right track about how much of burden it was, "every snide remark, every cutting edge of sarcasm, once it's in there it isn't ever coming out and you know what dad's like?"

"Yes I know", the scales were coming off; Mighty could see her mother trying to understand this concept, this notion of never being able to forget the manner of the Mobian she was married to – Emily looked at her directly, all traces of every emotion wiped from her face, "Michelle, you're not kidding me…"

"No", Mighty shook her head, trying to convey the importance of this fact with her eyes as she sought to make her parent understand, "not about this, never about this; we've got to get ready before dad can get into his stride. Listen mum, Big is one of the two good things that's happened to me since I lot my job at Saracens along with my new place and crew", such was the emotion behind those words and the realisation that she was right as she said that she found herself having to fight back sudden tears as she finished, "I am not going to let Stefan drive him away, you understand that? If it's a toss-up between them, you know where my money's going".

"Yes, I see that", her mother's voice was faint as her eyes never left the face of her daughter; Mighty was beginning to regret wording her last comment perhaps quite so strongly when Emily clapped her hands, all business as she speared first her daughter, then the jumper she'd half-pulled over her head, "so we best make sure he doesn't have the chance to – get dressed, I'll pack up". Mighty froze for just a second more, comprehending the new instructions before springing back to life, her mother dodging around the tornado her daughter became as she raced around snatching things up and hurling them towards where Mighty's suitcase was laid open on the floor.

XXX

_Come on, don't be too mad, don't be too mad_; fear coupled with excitement to give her feet wings – even with her luggage weighing her down she more than outpaced her mother as she ran down the stairs towards the dining room. She couldn't hear anything major and just about dared to hope that nothing much had gone wrong as she cleared the last half-a-dozen stairs in a single bound, barely touching the carpet as she virtually threw herself into the dining area, in full view of the restaurant as her eyes immediately locked onto where Big was sitting; the relief that exploded in her chest like a star going nova was indescribable as he turned to look over the back of his chair; _it's fine, it's all okay, he doesn't want to leave_;

"Ah there you are", the voice was a damper on her recent hope as she saw her father look around Big's body and survey her as he always did; barely any love or happiness at seeing his daughter again, just a straightforward examination to make sure she was in full working order, "and packed as well I see; have you eaten?"

"Umm…yeah, yeah, had something in my room"; just desperate to be gone from this place the armadillo told her stomach to cram its protestations and make the best of it, "didn't realise what the time was though, I'd have been down earlier otherwise".

"You have a watch don't you", Mighty grimaced as though struck; _I should have seen that one coming_; but fortunately Stefan seemed to share her desire to move on, "but time is of the essence; get all your kit together and meet your mother and I by the car, and make sure you're ready to go", his attention had shifted to Big and the cat wisely stayed quiet as the armadillo finished his instructions as he stood up and nodded to his wife as she appeared from behind his daughter, "the next stop is three hours away when we have to fill up; we don't stop before then. Come on Emily, let's get ourselves moving; these two youngsters need an example to work to". Big accepted the armadillo's apologetic shrug with an almost imperceptible nod as Stefan walked around him and back towards the stairs; he then looked on as Mighty stood in the entryway, watching her parents file past and crossing the room towards the table only when she was sure they were out of eye and earshot. Conscientiously pulling out a chair for her, Big watched as she collapsed into it and set her forlorn gaze on him; he knew what was coming just before it arrived and pre-empted it at the last instant,

"That wasn't the truth was it? You haven't eaten a thing Mighty and you know it; dieting's all well and good but skipping meals is a definite no-no". Unable to resist his humour for a moment, the armadillo smiled before adding a comment of her own,

"Me diet, not a chance, I just wanted to get this show on the road as soon as possible. And I wanted to apologise Big – I'm sorry…"

"…For him? You can't do that Mich, it's his choice to be such a pompous prick, not yours and if he wants to act like that towards me or anyone else, well that's between me and him"; _and I have a feeling it is going to be between us quite literally before too long_; the cat banished that pessimistic thought for a moment as he reached over and touched her hand, rubbing his fingers over and through the gaps of her own, the contact making her smile even if such an expression was tinged with a little sadness still, "it's no reflection on you, in fact it's a positive reflection on you – at least you didn't turn out like that".

"True, I'm glad I didn't as well, but now you know why I said what I said, I don't like my dad because he's always like that; it's like he's got a grudge against the world for something and nothing will ever change that. Believe me it's not just you, every guest to the house, mine or mum's, got what you just went through, he doesn't have any friends of his own to be mean to; I don't like him at all but for all that, despite what a complete downer he is most of the time", the armadillo took a shuddering breath, reaching over to nick one of the crusts Big had cut of a slice of toast; she quickly bolted it down before finishing melancholy, "I have to get on with him because he is, and he'll always be, my father, the only one I've got".

A/N: Big and Mighty have it both right – you might not have to like your own folks but you have to remember in the big wide world they're usually all you've got. Next chapter and the party really starts; off into the highlands we go; bring your winter woollies!


	7. Chapter 7 Northward Ho!

Chapter 7 – Northward Ho!

A/N: Sorry for the delay in getting this up – lots of different things pulling my attention in even more different ways, it's not good! Not good at all! Ah well, at least I can take consolation from the reviewers:

Ri2 – You don't like him; have a guess how many of Mighty's family do!

BC – Glad to see I'm making both the coupling sweet and Stefan scary; see this chapter for more examples of just how downright horrible he can be! Anyway, now for the important stuff, university:

First thing's first, before you even decide on what Uni to apply to, decide what area you want to study in and check up on the governing body of the aspect you want to work for. For example, if you want to be a Biomedical scientist, check up on the Institute of Biomedical Scientist – there should be a body for most courses. The reason you need to do this is because of…

ACCREDITATION! This is vitally important in selecting a university. Most of the governing bodies of different areas of employment (sciences, health and Safety etc) require you to be registered to them before you can even hope to get a job in their field. The easiest way to do this is to check out the governing body on the web; they've usually got a list of courses that are accredited _and the universities that run them!_ Going on one of these courses and completing it makes registration with the governing body much easier than doing an unaccredited course and tried to get registered then – it can be anything up to another two years study before the governing body will recognise your qualification if it wasn't a registered course!

The last thing you need to know if about the student loan – ignore what it says on the packet, it is NOT interest free. What happens is the Student Loans Company stockpiles all the interest your loan accrues over your studying years (they start from the second your first payment goes into you bank account) and dump it all on your loan the second you graduate. This extra lump of interest can be anything up to an extra five grand – not the sort of thing you need round your neck just as you're looking for a job! Also, keep an eye on the Bank of England base-rate of interest (currently 5.75 and rising) – that's the rate the Company charges interest on your loan.

Getting your loan is one thing, paying it off is another; here's the deal. They work out what you need to pay back based on how much you earn over £15,000 per year; sounds good right? Wrong – I worked out that, on a loan of £10,000 and earning £18,000 a year, you pay back around £22 per month; it's not a lot, but the fact is the interest added on monthly is about £25 per month. Result – you don't even pay off the interest and your debt just keeps growing bigger, and £18,000 per annum is a lot of money for some graduate jobs to be paying out in the first place.

At Uni, you'll need a job unless your parents and/or relatives are ridiculously rich – my advice is to get some weekend work and try to get into the local hospital as a cleaner or Ward Housekeeper. They're usually crying out for staff and the pay's often quite good.

Hope this helps!

The journey was a lot less than comfortable, especially for Big; ironically enough, a lot of the negatives of this journey were due to him being bereft of the tiredness that had kept little things such as discomfort from registering the previous evening. Hunched down as much as was physically possible and even with Emily having her seat forwards as far as the car would allow, the mammoth cat was still in a tight bind to even sit down in the motor at all; glancing around, the cat was sure that he was developing cricks in at least three separate limbs and sought to exercise at least one of them, twisting his head sideways slightly to view Mighty as the armadillo rode beside him, ignoring the flare of pain the action sent screaming up his neck and through his cramped, complaining ears,

"Now I know how toothpaste feels"; she managed to smile in answer, even that expression pinched as the hand on her stomach gripped ever tighter, trying to suppress the rumbling she could feel brewing there as nearly a full twenty-four hours without food began to take their toll on her. More to take her mind off the parlous condition of her appetite than anything else, the armadillo softly kicked the chair in front of her and called forwards,

"How long have we got until we need to fuel up again; if the wind changes Big's going to end up stuck like he is and we'll have to cut the car apart to get him out again". The cat in question glanced up in time to see Stefan's eyes flicker into focus in the rear view mirror before disappearing forwards again, peering through where the windscreen wipers were shoving the few flecks of falling snow over to the edges of his field of vision,

"The tank's just under half full – I'm going a little slower than usual, the suspension's probably feeling the extra strain and I'm not taking any risks out here"; _I swear one day I will get even with you for this_; Mighty's face blackened – he knew exactly what he was saying just like he always did; every word was designed with abrasion in mind, every syllable etched with disdain for the cat who was folded up in his car like a Christmas parcel; _sometime, sometime very soon, you will regret what you've done to both mine and my mother's social lives_; "we've got about fifty minute or so, perhaps an hour at most".

"Reckon you can cope with that Big?" The cat glanced up at the second voice from the front seat, nodding as the corner of Emily's face appeared around her seat, looking at him with a little concern as she took in the acute angles he was having to bend himself into to avoid catapulting her and the seat she was sitting on through the dashboard of the car, "are you going to need a stretch off before that?"

"Well I wouldn't mind one it has to be said", the cat said slowly, seeing almost without meaning to sudden spike of interest from the driver's seat; _and throw the weakness back in his face…now_; "but Stefan's right; only fifty minutes, I can manage that".

"Good", the named armadillo muttered as he guided his vehicle over the brow of yet another steep incline, "the weather looks to be closing in and we don't have a lot of time to waste getting your breath back and letting you take in the view".

"Just as well, don't think I'd see much out there to write home about – weather must be closing in faster than you anticipated"; mixing his signals by deliberately nodding towards the front of the car at the same as airily dismissing Stefan's ideas of his preoccupations, the cat waited until the armadillo's attention was back on the road before twisting to the side of him again and winking. Intrigued, Mighty leant across a little, shielded from her father's vision by the back of his seat; twitching her closest ear to show she was listening, she paid attention to the words Big breathed from the corner of his mouth,

"Oh well, his funeral; he's a bit proud of this car isn't he?" _Oh yeah, a lot more than he's ever admitted to being of either me or mum_; glaring around the plush interior surrounding her the armadillo squirmed in her seat again, chafing at the feeling of leather under her tail as it only reluctantly let her go with an unpleasant slurping noise; _he could always hear me, that's what I hate about it – if I was moving around or took my belt off for a second, he'd hear me because of this bloody black rubber and I'd be for it._ Choking back her disgruntled memories of this part of the journey up north, Mighty glanced back across at the cat and gave a nod, crossing her arms as she did so in an expression of contempt – this outward hostility lessened, however, as Big's grin only grew and he lowered his voice even further, an extra layer of conspiracy to his tone,

"Well he's going to love the decoration it's going to get off me when I get out of here then isn't he; four hours in a hot leather environment, oh yes thank you very much – one purple pouffe coming right up".

Even as she managed to divert her parent's attention from her sudden outburst of badly-strangled guffaws as an attack of the sneezes, Mighty suddenly didn't feel the pinch of hunger as badly as she had over the past couple of hours; the picture of her father's apoplectic face as he beheld the mess of mashed purple hair, coupled with Big's off-hand explanation that he was a cat in winter and lost a lot of hair naturally at this time of year, was far more nourishing than mere food or drink could ever have been.

XXX

Fifty-three minutes later and Big found himself upright once more, stretching off to his full extent and extremely grateful for the opportunity; twisting his head on around on his neck and caught between the ambivalence of pain and pleasure that screamed into his brain from his neck and upper shoulder muscles, the cat only found himself tuning into the rest of reality when Emily's door nudged him in the rear and he quickly side-stepped to allow her to out of the car on her own,

"Oh sorry about that".

"No need to be", she smiled back as her husband kicked himself out of the driver's seat, straightened out his collar and then set off towards the petrol pump, calling over his shoulder as he did so,

"If you're not back in the car by the time I've paid for the petrol I'm leaving without you"; _now why doesn't that surprise me?_; it was just the sort of thing Big could imagine the armadillo he'd come to loathe doing, not caring as he left members of his family cast aside in the middle of winter. In fact he was so sure of this that the tap that landed on the small of his back came as no surprise to him; looking over his shoulder, the cat turned around as Mighty beckoned over to him, the armadillo leant over the spot he'd recently occupied, her gloves covered in his spent hair as she winked at him cheerily,

"He will as well, so be quick", her eyes darkened for a second and she dropped her chin a little; heeding such signs, the cat inclined his head a little more to listen in as her voice dropped to an urgent whisper, "I know what you're thinking – don't". He blinked, a little confused,

"Don't what?"

"You know what; no-one's allowed to eat in the car and he always finds out", despite her stomach threatening outright mutiny Mighty knew she'd have to go without now – knowing her father as well as she did she was under no illusion that, should Big give in to the soft side of his nature and purchase something for her, he'd deny her the opportunity to glut her hunger until they pulled over again; _which of course wouldn't be until we arrived at the Steppes_. Being hungry and having food so close in front or her would be akin to torture much the same way her going into the small garage kiosk would have been; for that reason she was both declining to even exit the car until she was within sight of her family's ancestral home and the slap-up binge no doubt laid up on the table for her and tipping Big off now,

"Just leave it, I'll be fine; trust me", she risked a glance through the front of the car windscreen, seeing where Stefan was just inserting the tip of the pump into the tank's receptacle, "he's just waiting for something like that to pick us both off with – it's not worth it".

"It's not but you are"; _I'll find a way_; mind made up, the cat stood to his full height and, ignoring Mighty's furiously hissed denials, strode towards the small store himself, Emily already inside and out of the chill breeze, something Big was only too pleased to be rid of a few seconds later as the internal temperature of the kiosk permeated his cold coat. As he entered his eyes swept the store with practised ease; a single glance told him all he needed to know.

Having hastily chosen a single magazine from the rack in front of her adorned, Emily was alerted to Big's presence more by his mere physical presence than by his intentional design; taking an interest as he backed up one of the racks, she caught his eye as he too evidently chose something for the road ahead,

"Hi, Em"; _nicely done_; it was a game she and Mighty had played for as long as either could remember, trying to use the pet names Stefan hated so much just as he was out of earshot, one of their small ways of winding him up, "know we can't have anything big on the road, are these okay?"

"Yeah, they'll be fine", off-handedly seeing the packet of sweets he held up Emily nodded them through without a problem; even if he never admitted it, Stefan wasn't above enjoying a little bit of flavour on the road. Quickly moving to pay for her magazine and get back into the warmer car, the armadillo strode towards the cashier's counter, missing as she did the manner in which Big double-backed on himself, heading towards something else as she fumbled for her purse.

"'Allo lassie, that yer lot then?"

"Aye, this is all", she affirmed to the greying man with gold-rimmed spectacles, his calloused hands swiping the magazine and breath mints under the bar scanner with practised ease as Big's shadow fell over her, the cat's appearance drawing a slightly more amazed glance from the cashier. He stuck to his job with a practised, professional ease though, quickly sending Emily on her way with her purchases and a kind word; Big glanced down at her as she made to go past him, smirking and mouthing the word 'one' – though nothing changed on her face, the shove he received in his side was ample demonstration that she didn't agree with his attempting to be clever. _Oh yeah_; Big shot a sly glance over his shoulder as she departed, a single thought running through his mind as he heard the shop bell tinkle overhead and he stumped towards the cashier; _definitely better Mighty took after her_.

"Just these please". The man nodded as he handed over his two purchases, Big following his movements the whole way, willing him to hurry as he held the correct change in his hands ready – he had to be quick in what he did next, no telling when Stefan would rear his ugly head to disturb his plan.

"Okay man, that'll be…"

"Here, keep the change"; just desperate to be off, the cat wasn't going to quibble over a couple of coppers and tapped the little plastic dog on the counter to get his point across, "box it up aright?"

"Aye man, wha'ever y'say". Seeing the two small bronze disks slip where they were meant to be Big dipped his head in appreciation and made to leave; even before he'd turned around he had both the items in his hands open and was sliding one of his claws out for use, already thinking about how thick he could get away with for this to look convincing.

_Just quick enough_; Big allowed himself a quick sigh of relief as, even distorted through the frosted glass of the kiosk front door, the unmistakeable silhouette of Stefan loomed up large and he quickly clamped his hand over the top of his purchased bag of sweets, hiding the fact that the top was already open. Weighing things up in his mind for a moment, the cat reached forwards and pulled the door open just before the armadillo reached it; for a second Stefan stood framed in the doorway stupefied, wondering where the obstacle that had been before him had disappeared to – he quickly pulled himself together to peer upwards at Big, his eyes as cold and cheerless as the weather,

"Manners", he drawled slowly, "those I find agreeable, much like your taste in confectionary; I hope my daughter doesn't help herself to too many".

"You know"; _and he does, I'd bet my whiskers on it_; and that certainty only deepened Big's contempt for the Mobian before him, "she's not eaten a thing today". Stefan snickered unpleasantly, his voice dropping as Big had to shout down the urge to smack him in the face as the armadillo leaned forwards,

"She lied to move on, she goes hungry and lives with the consequences", he shrugged before nailing Big himself this time, his tone mockingly challenging as he declared, "perhaps if you were the wonderful partner she's always telling us you are you would have asked us to wait for her to eat?"

"I might have", the cat responded stiffly, accepting that was true and just allowing a glimmer of truth to light up Stefan's eyes before his voice dropped, betraying a hint of the scorn he felt for the armadillo, "but then again, if you were any kind of parent I wouldn't have to". Stefan's gaze hardened, Big allowing his to do likewise for a second, both Mobians engaged in a stare-down before the elder of the two gave a snort and stepped inside, not a word of thanks for Big holding the door for all this time as he departed with a final shot,

"Maybe, maybe not; fact is that liars never prosper, I make sure of it". _No, liars don't_; Big held the arrogant swagger that the back of the armadillo's grey shell displayed for a second before steeling himself and stepping outside, a smile on his face as he moved back to the car and banished visions of his claws 'accidentally' passing through the leather upholstery; _but they prosper more than unbending, self-righteous dorks like you – I make sure of that!_

Trying to distract herself from the roiling, churning emptiness in her gut by looking out of the window at the relatively bleak scenery, Mighty's attention was jolted towards the other side of the car as the door opposite her own was popped open. She shivered for a second, goose-bumps bursting out all over her skin before Big's body swung down and into the car, the door slamming shut behind him as she greeted,

"Hey Big guy, anything interesting in there?"

"Not much, well, except this maybe?" The way her eyes fixed on the bag he brought into view was mildly amusing but, with a great effort of will, the armadillo resisted the urge to grab his sweets out of his hands and commence the banquet, "hang on, where's Emily?"

"Nipped to the loo I assume; she always needs at least one pit-stop every year each way; no Big", she tried to wave away the pro-offered bag, warding it off like a priest attempting to repel the grip of the unholy; _just one of them's going to rip any sort of self-restraint I've got in half_; "I can't…" He forced them into her hand anyway, explaining as he did so,

"Yeah you can, I brought it for you after all", his tone made her edgy, the knowing nod that greeted her raised eyebrows only adding to her confusion before, with a shake of her head, she pulled the sundered sides of the bag open.

She looked for a long, long moment at her salvation from starvation; only when she had let her eyes glut themselves until they were as gorged as could be did she look upwards with an almost dreamy expression, seasoning the meat of the cut up pork pie hidden in the bag with the sight of the cat's tricks-of-the-trade wink as he ran his tongue along one of his claws. Mighty shook her head again as she dove into the bag, pulling out one of the roughly-sliced quarters and pausing just long enough to whisper,

"I love you", before devouring it hastily. Big laughed and reached over, gently rubbing her shoulder as she wolfed down the food he'd brought back for her before her father could muscle in on the act,

"After the custard creams you brought me – call us even", it was her turn to wink and smile; with her mouth full, she couldn't have replied even if she'd tried to, "and I love you too".

XXX

"So, Big", scrunched up in the back of the car again the cat couldn't even look up as his name was called from the front of the car, "you left from your family the pair of you, am I right?"

"Aye, that's the…oh no", the sight of Mighty's eyes rolling let Big cotton onto the Freudian slip he'd made; chuckling, the cat peered into the rear view mirror, Emily's eyes smiling in his view, "you've got me at it now". The lady in the front of the car chortled in kind, her partner obviously either concentrating too much on the road to pay attention to her brave stab at conversation or simply not caring enough about what was being said to care.

"Something in the air up here does it man, I'm completely accent-free for about three-hundred and forty-five days of the year, but anyway", moving back onto topic, the armadillo continued, "you left them all okay?"

"Oh yeah, they're all fine and looking forwards to Christmas at least as much as you are; just gotta hope mum's back clears up before the twenty-fifth; sciatic you know, nasty thing".

"How old is your mother?" _None of your bloody business_;

"I'm not sure to be honest", for once Big was amazed that the part of the brain controlling his tongue could provide such great courtesy when the rest of his mind was screaming every obscenity under the sun at the Mobian who'd just bulldozed into the conversation with a question no-one with even an ounce of the manners he so prized would have dared voice, "we don't make a fuss about birthdays really, and it's not something I'd ask her".

"Humph", choked off, Stefan appeared to be reconsidering his options, apparently unaware of the small, smoking hole Mighty's deadly glare was attempting to burn through the seat at his back, "well she should consider herself lucky; for armadillos going through old age, sciatic is the least of their worries as you'll presently see".

"I'm sure I will; a party for all ages this is, is it not?" Just itching to leap into the conversation Mighty grabbed the cue her boyfriend's pointed look sent her way and launched herself into the fray, smothering Stefan's words and attempts to plan the conversation before he could make the situation any worse,

"You bet it is Big; I think the youngest one there won't be a year old, the eldest, well", checking the rear view mirror and seeing, as she'd expected, her mother raise an eyebrow, Mighty decided not to give too much away – it was an unwritten law that first-time invitees to this event had to meet the master of ceremonies for themselves, "like you said, I'm not too sure how old she is, but I'm perfectly sure she wouldn't take kindly to us guessing either – old age or none a clip round the ears from her still packs a wallop".

Though he knew it was going to cause trouble from the front seats, Stefan's words had roused his curiosity and, unwittingly, his daughter's words had merely inflamed that mild itch to know into a raging conflagration; unable to contain it any longer, Big bit the bullet and dove in,

"So what is the problem with your species and entering the full bloom of second youth then?" As he'd expected there was a disbelieving grunt from the driver's seat, Stefan thinking little of him for not knowing a fact the armadillo took to be obvious, but to the cat's immense relief it was his wife who managed to answer before the grey armadillo could make a bad situation for him even worse,

"It's because, like everyone else, we lose a bit of muscle the older we get; unfortunately, we don't lose any of the things our muscles are supporting"; _of course_; just from those words he'd seen the resultant problem the armadillos must have faced but just in case Emily spelt it out for him, "our shells just keep getting heavier and heavier; they don't change at all of course but because our backs start shedding muscle we notice it more. Most of us end up stooped and having to use canes or zimmers to move about with, even wheelchairs in come cases if it gets really bad".

"That's not good then, it's a bit like us in fact; okay we're nowhere near as serious", he didn't want to make this a trial of woes but at the same time felt he could relate to the inevitable situation all armadillos faced in a small way, "but some old cats, or even cats that injure themselves, break an arm or something, can't groom themselves properly; if they're not well looked after they start to knot and gnarl up something chronic, not nice at all".

"I can imagine", the voice to the side of him made him look around; he just saw Mighty's wink and slight inclination of her head towards the back of her father's chair to fill him in as to what was going on before she continued seamlessly, "tell you what Big; where we're old and toothless and starting to lose all our marbles, you carry me about everywhere and I'll keep all those burrs and knots out your coat, how's that sound?"

"Sounds like a deal to me"; try as he might to keep his eyes firmly on Mighty's face the whole time, he couldn't help but sneak a peak at the back of Stefan's chair, pretty much seeing the look of aggravated, impotent fury clouding the idiosyncratic armadillo's feature, "want to shake on it?" _You really are up for making this unpleasant for him aren't you?_; though he tried to hide it, Mighty couldn't help but notice the steely glint in his eye whenever they flicked towards where her father was sat; _well, so am I_.

"Hold fast Michelle", just as she reached across to shake her boyfriend's paw she shuddered as Stefan's voice oozed towards them one more, "that's a lot of coat you'd have to take care of; remember that before you do anything rash". Growling low in her throat, the younger of the two armadillos finally lost her temper to a certain degree and squared off against her father,

"A lot of coat maybe but at least it's all in pretty much perfect condition; it'd take me less time to go through his fur than it does for him to go through my shell". _Oops!_

She hadn't quite meant to say that; as far as her father was concerned talking about things to do with cleaning under their shells was strictly taboo; Mighty had a sneaking suspicion that he'd rather she walked around topless than with her back plates raised and open for everyone to see. Even as such a thought reached her mind the car gave an almighty lurch back, then forwards, everyone thrown against their seatbelts as Stefan temporarily lost control for a moment, his foot slipping off the accelerator and onto the brake as what his daughter had said sank into his mind and stuck there, virtually immobile, so much so that for once he spoke without being able to truly control what he was saying,

"You, let him in…"

"Of course she does", not quite aware of the significance of this fact Big muscled into the fray, pointing out what to him was obvious, "if I didn't she wouldn't be able to get it cleaned at all while she was in Station Square". There was silence from the front of the car, an icy and deadly silence before, with a slight growl on the throttle, Stefan managed to reply,

"I see"; _this is not good, not good at all_; Mighty knew that that phrase meant, knew it all too well – it meant that she had committed a heinous crime in his eyes and, because of that, at some stage she was going to have to be made to pay for it, "well then master cat you have my apologies – regardless of how close you two supposedly are, Michelle should not be badgering you into performing that unpleasant duty. There are facilities freely available that will get rid of such irritations for a nominal fee".

"Not in Mystic Ruins there aren't; the closest place for that might, at a push, be Station Square and that's a two-hour trip each way minimum", Big answered, not quite able to keep the superior note out of his tone as he launched into a new avenue of attack, "and anyway, Mystic Ruins you just might be able to get away with it but on Angel Island", the cat shook his head solemnly, ears chafing at the ceiling above him as he viewed Stefan's face in the rear view mirror, the growl in the older armadillo's throat mirrored by the tone of the engine as he dropped gear to go around a sharp left-hand bend, "no chance; up until recently only echidnas had ever lived there; are you still the only armadillo up there Michelle, or have a couple of others moved in?" More to distract herself from what might be coming her way in a couple of hours, the Chaotix answered as truthfully as she was able to in the circumstances,

"Maybe one or two at the very most, but then again that's true for all species that aren't short, furry and egg-laying; Echidnopolis might be getting a bit more cosmopolitan but it's a slow process, and he's right dad", suddenly emboldened by the fact that just this once she was right and there was nothing her father could do to gainsay her, Mighty pressed on a little flippantly, "there aren't any steam-rooms up there, not that aren't full of echidnas at any rate and there's no way I can wait two weeks between gribble removal so I have to let the rest of my team in on the act. Remember the photo I sent you all mum?"

"Umm…" a little caught out by her daughter's sudden change in focus, Emily was nevertheless sharp enough to recognise the switch in direction as an attempt to shake Stefan off the scent and quickly signed up to it without hesitation, "…yeah, yeah I think I can; there are five of you aren't there, if you count the boss that is?"

"No, six; the boss's wife's part of the organisation too".

"Smart woman"; _very true_; thinking of Rouge did two things simultaneously to boost Mighty's confidence levels – it reminded her that no matter how obnoxious her father chose to be it wouldn't last forever and, more importantly, provided her with a role-model to tailor her next quote around, trying to mimic the bat's dead-on timing and acerbic tone to prick Stefan's bubble of discontent with her conduct,

"Yeah, smart and the rest of it, but most times I have to rely on them to help sort me out; usually Charmy, the honeybee", she added, seeing her mother's face overshadowed by a cloud of consternation at the same time as her father sank lower in the driver's seat, the look on his face no doubt thunderous, "does the job with a bit of a rag – a long way from perfect but, under the circumstances, the best we can do".

"I'm sure", her father's voice came back to her, the slightly softer tone made her dare think that just this once he'd laid a bone of contention to rest only to have that illusion shattered by his next sound bite, "a choice of five you said she had master cat – now I know why". _Should have know that one was going to come back and bite me_; only the physical impossibilities of such a movement prevented the cat covering his eyes with a free hand; he couldn't look across at Mighty, knowing only too well what would be going through the armadillo's mind and across her face as she tried to take in what her father had said and how he'd been a part of it; _and because of that Mighty got strung up by the short and curlies good and proper_;

"No Stefan, you haven't got a clue", only at those words did Big, along with the other two occupants of the motor vehicle currently winding its way through the thin, winding roads of the Scottish highlands, turn his full, astonished attention to the armadillo in the back of the car as she finished what she had to say, her tone unhurried and calm, "mum, you're probably in a better boat to work out why, but dad, don't try thinking about things you'll never understand".

Having said her piece and, in her mind, defended the honour of the rest of the Chaotix not present at this gathering, Mighty sat back and said nothing more; there was nothing else she needed to say. Her father's glance from the rear view mirror was scathing as always but this time, this time there was something else present, something she hadn't really ever seen before; _something that doesn't suit him, and he doesn't like it much either_. Suddenly daring, Mighty let her arm snake its way sideways towards the middle of the back seats in the car, her intention conveyed towards the target of its advance with a single flick of her eyes and inclination of her head. When her father next looked she forced herself to keep her face carefully blank, but as she saw his eyes widen in horror as he beheld her paw almost swallowed by the shape of Big's hand lying atop it, her spirit rocketed up towards the heavens as Stefan's chains of misery sloughed their hold over it. _You can try to act depressive, try to make sure he goes away like all the others but this time being a bully won't work_; slowly rotating her hand until it rested palm to palm with her boyfriends', the armadillo fought to conceal the thoughts racing across her face, the realisation that for the first time nothing her father said or did was going to affect how she was feeling, at least for now, in this space and with Big by her side; _Big and I both learned the hard way how to deal with bullies, and we just got stronger no matter how many times they tried to knock us down!_

XXX

Overall it was absolutely astounding the number of minor aches and pains that could be comfortably forgotten about under the anaesthetic of sleep; such was Big's second thought as he suddenly found himself jarred awake and instinctively tried to sit up in the car – his first thought as he tried desperately not to swear out loud from the spear of pure agony that had ripped down his neck and spine was completely unrepeatable.

"Oww", reached gingerly up and around the oversized tabby managed to hook a few fingers around the nape of his neck and massage the stressed tissue, "that'll be a crick there come the morning and no mistake".

"Sorry pal, but come on, come on", the excitement more than the apology took his attention away from his own woes; looking around to only the back of Mighty's shell as she fumbled with the door on her side of the car, "we're here, let's get unpacked and get inside". _Inside?_; how was that possible, they were still on the…no, no they weren't – freed from the shackles of pain by curiosity this time, the rest of the cat's body came back online to belatedly inform him that there was no motion from beneath him; the motor car was at rest; _and, and she said her dad never stops except that once…are we really here then?_ Though he didn't have a lot of time to ponder that thought as Mighty finally pushed her door open and a swoosh of frigid northern air slapped him in the mush, enough neurones were sparked into action to get him up and on his feet, reaching for the handle on his side of the car and pulling it open with his pinkie. Fortunately there was no wind on his side of the car and he was able to swing to his feet without further cranial trauma, the wind only rifling through his fur as he stood tall and peered over the top of Stefan's motor to where all three armadillos were waiting for him; hastily scooting around towards them, he was met halfway by the one who had invited him, Mighty waving down the finger that indicated the boot of the car,

"Never mind that, we'll empty the car later, come on", with a tug not even a mountainous Mobian such as Big could resist, Mighty set her feet and half-dragged him forwards towards the few steps that led to her family reunion, "if we're lucky they'll have just finished setting the plates; pork pie or none my stomach's thinking my throat's been cut".

"Don't tempt me", finally managing to retain both balance and dignity Big had to resist the urge to pull back against his girlfriend and sweep her off her feet, more for the fact that he wasn't sure he'd be able to keep his footing on the uneven ground rather than any bad feeling it would brew up in Stefan. For her part Mighty dropped his arm and stared at him open-mouthed until he stood tall and gave a furtive smile from under his bristling whiskers. _How'd I fall for that one?_; with a sigh and roll of her eyes the armadillo gave him a shove and beckoned towards where the first stone steps rose from the snow-flecked ground like the backs of grey, hibernating bears. Mounting the first one, Big took a second to breath in the free air and admire the landscape surrounding this place; despite the weather closing in and the fogs beginning to roll down from the mountains like strands of cloud mooring themselves to the world, the rugged terrain was attractive in its own way – a sort of defiant bleakness that, though first appearing intolerant of weakness and those not hardy enough to thrive there, eventually eroded away to reveal a cold haven that would nurture those that could suckle on its bitter seeds. _Looks rough as Vector's back, but overall it's got something_; as he banged the bottom of his boots out on the side of one of the pillars propping up the porch, the tail end of the cat's thought made him smother a sudden snigger; _no wonder Mighty and the rest of them fit in so well here_. With that thought pleasantly entertaining his mind, the cat politely bobbed his head towards where Emily was holding the door open for him, took the weight from her with a casual extension of his arm and then took his first pace into the open door of the Highland Steppes.

XXX

_Ah, that's a little better_; though not exactly roasting hot, the interior of this hotel was still a good deal warmer than the weather they'd all left at the door; _mind you, don't suppose stone's all that good at keeping out the chill, even if it is covered in paper_. That much was certainly true; though the narrow hallway simply channelled them into a much more open and relaxed-looking entrance and what seemed to be a booking area, the cat was acutely aware of the cold still nipping at them as they all tromped forwards, Emily in the lead and walking with much more of a spring in her step that Big could ever remember seeing there when her oppressive husband had been looming behind her. Bringing up the rear of the little quartet, Big got his first good look at what he took to be the grand hall of the Steppes and felt obliged to make a comment,

"Nice set up"; the cat flinched as everyone else jumped, the narrow stone passageway seemingly as effective at channelling sound as it was at channelling cold, amplifying his bass growl to a colossal boom of thunder. Stefan glanced over his shoulder; the cat could see the malice glittering in the chips of flint that counted as his irises,

"Well", the first word bit more deeply than even the coldest highland winter, "at least now we won't have to bother ringing the bell; sorry Emily, it looks like our guest has denied you that pleasure".

"Unlike ye, auld moaner than y'are; ye'd deny her all the pleasures o' the earth, save one".

_I'm not sure who you are, but thanks anyway_; the woman crossed the floor like she owned the place and, as she dropped the scowl she'd thrown in Stefan's direction just long enough to tip Mighty a knowing wink before heading towards the bar-like booth set along one side of the entryway, Big reckoned she probably did. Such a thought was then confirmed as one of the woman's hands tugged at her belt, prizing free a set of keys and carefully selecting one before trying to insert it into what looked like a Yale lock on the door. It seemed a little stuck, the key refusing to turn in the lock; ever the gentleman, Big was about to offer a hand when, with a shake of her head that sent her scarlet locks cascading, she lashed out with one of her slipper-clad feet, the blow impacting on the door with a meaty thud. Suitably chastised, it swung open and allowed the woman entrance; for a second she seemed to almost disappear, the floor behind the booking in table swallowing her up to her shoulders before she magically grew a couple more feet and looked around to face them all again, tucking a stray strand of magnificent fiery mane back behind her ear as she addressed them,

"Sorry aboot tha', just started dishing up tae the five thoosand back there, ye ken?"

"Oh I ken fine", Emily said with a smile, approaching the booth and the woman behind it; _how's she going to – oh_; that was that question answered; the armadillo hopped up on a stool that Big had assumed was just for decorative purposes with a practised ease and, rather than being at hidden underneath the lip of the desk, was now at almost-eye level with the proprietor of the Highland Steppes, "how many have arrived so far?"

"Ach, ah dinna ken; mur than y'kan count on three hands, put it tha'we; anyhoo, let's be addin' t' that avalanche shall we?" Emily snorted, the rest of her family and guest edging closer to the proceedings as a thick ledger was dragged out to the centre of the desk between the two women and unceremoniously levered open. Pulling the pen from the spine of the book and pulling the tip off to reveal a fine fountain pen point, the highland lady grinned across at them all, one of her lower teeth missing,

"No need t' tell me, I knoo who this all is; Millie an' her customary two, an' this time", Big felt the normal prickles along the back of his neck he felt whenever the attention turned to him as she glanced over at where he stood; he fought down the urge to twiddle his thumbs and tried to look politely neutral while he gaze remained on him, which thankfully wasn't long, "on'ither also; Michtee, ah take it he be yurs". Taken a little aback by the sudden change in focus, the youngest armadillo present nevertheless recovered in time to step up close to the cat she had invited to this sacred place and time, leaning against his side and rejoicing as his closest arm slowly slid around to her shoulder,

"You take it right Bekka; this is, and I know you'll get a kick out of this, this is Big the cat, my guest this time".

"Big?" _Every time_; his name, perhaps even more than his appearance, caught so many people out; to her credit though, this Bekka lady recovered quickly and rebounded the humour back onto the one who had unwittingly supplied it, "ye bring him as yer guest o'yer bed-warmer; no doobt he'd keep the cold oot a'nicht".

"Rebekka, that's quite enough", obviously this sort of bawdy humour strained Stefan's delicate sensibilities far beyond their tolerances, "just sign us in and we'll be on our way".

"A'richt, a'richt, ye grey-backed auld grouch", pausing to scribble in her ledger, the woman dropped her eyes for merely a second before turning them to Stefan again, no humour in her look this time, "got enough worries in thus world wi'out ye and yer bellyachin'. Away wi'ye, mak yersel' useful an' unload tha' car o'yours while yer wife an' daughter eat, then get ba'to tha' cold cave ye call yer heart". Big's keen ears heard the ring of metal on metal as she reached under the desk, her hand emerging a second later to thrust a set of keys towards the misogynistic armadillo. Strangely enough he didn't seem inclined to argue back, merely taking them and muttering a curt farewell before stalking away, pushing past the rest of his family to head back towards the door, no doubt to find a better spot to park his car and begin ferrying his family's belongings towards the rooms booked out for them. The cat watched him go in mute astonishment; how in the face of such provocation could he not saw a word; _maybe he thinks arguing with a woman's beneath him or something?_; though as he heard a snort and looked back to see the woman he now knew was called Rebekka dusting her hands off in the direction of the main door, he somehow doubted that conclusion from his mind.

"Ah richt, tha's him oot frum under oor feet", a quick check in the ledger followed before the owner of this hotel looked back at them all, face now completely reformed into a smile now that Stefan had removed himself from the scene, "noo then, ye've got a room up on the third floor Millie, surry but ah couldnae get one wi' two beds in, have to be a dubble for ye I'm afraid".

"I'll manage I'm sure – just like being at home". Gaze lingering on Emily's face for just a second longer, Rebekka turned then to where Mighty was listening with evident interest, all ears for this allotment of sleeping rooms,

"An' as for ye, young muscles, ye would have been sharin' wi'yer aunt Kathy but we had a call frum her office just before the holiday began; she canna mak'it thus time, the wee one's stricken like the Divvel himself, so ye've a room to yer own thus year. I'll be tellin' ye now though, an' thus goes for ye an'all 'fore ye start looking hopeful"; _yes ma'am_; again, just for a second that aura of intimidation sprang up around the grizzled old women, commanding an instant, instinctive respect for her, "they'll be nay getting' up to mischief in ma hoose after the lichts have been snuffed, else ye'll be sleeping on the doorstep wi'a towel over ye come Christmas morn, d'ye get it?"

_I know she tells everyone the same thing, every year_; knowing the truth, however, wasn't the same as believing that there wasn't cause for a special grievance in her case; _but she always make it sound especially embarrassing for me, even when I don't bring anyone_. Cheeks just short of blisteringly hot, Mighty nevertheless managed to dredge her face up enough to look the old crow in the booking office in the face and grate out her reply,

"They'll be no mischief; Big knows how to behave himself, more than I can say for some people not a million miles away". A scarlet eyebrow raised itself, Mighty's face flaming again a second later as she belatedly realised what she'd said and how Rebekka had translated it,

"Och as can ah; ah nivver had a doubt aboot the cat missy, it's you I'm concerned wi'. Anyhoo, regarding yon cat"; _oh_; only at the sound a not-so-discreet cough from the side of him did Big managed to make the connection that the woman was talking to him; _you meant me?_; "ye'll be a fine one tae test the beds fer woodworm an' no mistake; had I known ye were on yer way I'd have held ane of the master beds open, but as things stand I've pencilled ye in fer sharin' a room wi' young Derek. Ye're no allergic tae metal o'ony sort are ye?" Big shook his head in answer, not able to recall any hypersensitivities he might have suffered from in the past; as he opened his mouth to clarify his answer, however, the voice that issued forth was in no way his own,

"Derek?" _If he's here – could he have beaten me here for once? No surely not_; "my nephew Derek?!"

"The very same; he gote here just noo wi'his da", thinly amused by the disbelieving goggle-eyes Emily was sending her way, Rebekka nodded towards the large door inlaid between both branches of the enormous, thick-banistered stairwell that led upwards towards where Big assumed the guestrooms were housed above their heads, "ah dinna ken aboot the son, but the elder o'the two's in there noo, fillin' his face like there were a famine bearin' doon on us".

One moment Emily was still, the next she simply wasn't there; taken temporarily aback by the burst of speed the armadillo had adopted, Big only just managed to pick out the silhouette of her shell as she wrenched the mighty oaken portal open and disappeared through it. Her daughter seemed to be in much the same way; she'd tottered forwards a few steps almost before realising what she was doing and who she was leaving behind; slewing to a halt Mighty turned to look over her shoulder, face almost comically beseeching as she seemed to have one foot planted towards each course of action – did she follow her mother or was staying with her boyfriend proper form? A little amused by the expression of her face, Big quickly moved to set her at ease and uproot her from his side of the struggle; a single nod sent her on her way, the door thrown open once more to be greeted with a low roar as Mighty passed through it. _Wow, must be really quite a reunion there then_; giving a low whistle at the volume of the family getting back together, Big stepped forwards and leaned one burly elbow on the desk, able to see over the top of it easily without resorting to the stool close at hand, nodding at Rebekka as he did so,

"Looks like they're going to have themselves quite a party there".

"Och, ye can bet yer life they will; the same every year, the avalanche hits at different times mebbe, but it allus hits as hard".

"Avalanche?"; _not the first time you've used that word_; not sure if this was the correct word for a group of armadillos, the cat thought it better to ask, "that what you call armadillos when they get together?" The older woman snorted with laughter, her head sinking towards the ledger that still lay open on the desk as something about his comment ripped her funny bone open,

"Tha's, that's what ah call tha' lot of armadillos when they get together; hearin' them all run doon the stairs fur breakfist used to wak me when ah was a wee bairn, ye'll see an' hear come tumorrow".

"I'm sure", Big chuckled in kind as he took the key that still rested under her hand, the metal key and key chain clinking together as he slipped the tip of his littlest finger though the ring connecting them before slipping the entire contraption into his pocket, "anyway, you've lived here all…"

"Aye, me mam left thus auld shack to me when she left the mortol coil; ah managed weel for five or six years, then ane of the Sassenachs up here on tour took a shine t'me; he's hung aboot ever since, ye'll see him in there, dishin' up the stew", for the first time Big caught sight of a band of burnished gold on the fourth finger of her hand, a precious stone of some kind inlaid in the ring as the cat figured out the fate of the Englishman she'd mentioned earlier, "sumthin' ah recommend ye see fer yersel' right aboot noo – knowing Stefan ah doobt ye've eaten yet today".

"I take it you don't get on with him either"; her black look was worth a thousand words, not a single one of them pleasant as her voice lowered into a guttural snarl,

"Does a'one, none o'dear Millie's family tha's ivver admitted it. Ah reckon the only time he's ivver said a kind word to a single soul was before the eyes o'the Lord when he stood and said 'Ah do', an' sumtimes ah ken he was lyin' even then. He doesn'e keep tha' woman, nor Michtee either; they were left tae fend alone as best they could – ah reckon tha' would be the best thing fer both o'them wee hens".

"Mighty would agree with you, that I'm sure of", the cat jingled his key in his pocket, a lot more hopeful now that this stay north of the border would prove more fruitful than his original expectations as it appeared that at least one person was on the side of his personal opinions, "and just for the record so would I".

"A sensible man then", Rebekka inclined her head once more before shifting her eyes insinuatingly towards the great hall door, "but ah suggest ye go through an' meet the ithers who share yer sentiments". Echoing her nod, the cat smiled one last time before turning away completely,

"You know I think I might just do that". With those words, he headed for the door that had swallowed up two of his companions and set his hand on the handle; there was a distant slam behind him and, realising that Stefan was returning from his earlier errands, the cat twisted the wrought iron metalwork and let himself in before he could be yoked into aiding the armadillo in the task Rebekka had unceremoniously dumped on him.

XXX

_That was lucky, just missed him_; letting out his held breath in a long, slow exhalation, Big felt the tension ease from him as he recognised the footsteps outside the door grow fainter and fainter still; for a second the entrance to this hidden room had stuck fast and he'd feared being seen by the returning Stefan. Fortunately it appeared he'd missed that fate by the merest whisker; to his sensitive ears it seemed that the armadillo was moving off, his slow, clumping stride indicating the burden he was now bearing; _still, just like he said earlier_; though not normally a vengeful person, the cat couldn't help but feel a thrill of wicked glee as he recognised himself catching the misanthropic armadillo out with one of his own pet statements; _if he'd wanted help he could have asked for it._ The thought lodged in his mind for a second and he indulged in it as he turned around to regard the room he was now in; the minute he'd completed such a turn, however, that thought was blown out of his mind as the sheer scale of this place sank in.

He was stood at the end of a long room; admittedly it was a lot longer than it was broad but calling it a long, narrow room seemed a grammatical mistake. Cut in a dark grey stone, the walls rose majestically into the ceiling over his head, the edifice held aloft by regular indentations in the uniform expanse of the wall, creating alcoves of shadow that even he could have hidden himself within quite comfortably. Though mostly bare stonework, tapestries bedecked in gloriously intricate needlework hung from each of the wall pillars, hiding the polished rock from view behind vast reams of green, blue and gold and casting a pall of reflecting colours over the two huge feasting tables that dominated the floor, twenty feet long if they were an inch; _and all oak, all traditionally stained oak – worth a king's ransom these days_. Recalling all he could of the knowledge Mr Trenton had imparted to him on the art of woodcraft, Big knew that the solid wood compromising these tables would have stood for almost millennia – properly cured and treated by those who fashioned it, oak would become a material more akin to iron than wood, more enduring even than the fine mahogany imported from distant, exotic lands. _Can't get better than a bit of home-grown_; the thought made him smile as his shock receded a little, letting him drink in more detail; he glanced up, half-expecting wax to be dripping down form the chandeliers hung overhead, but in this very small way he was to be disappointed – alone, it seemed, against this entire set up, the lighting was of the modern electronic sort rather than more traditional candles. And that wasn't all that was traditional either; as his nose picked out a couple of scents he felt he could well do with getting to know slightly better; his stomach, already stretched by a long day on little more than a bowl of porridge and a packet of breath mints, added its own gurgle of confidence a second later. _So_; licking his lips as he realised no matter how alluring the aroma drooling in public was still the height of bad manners, Big began to pick his way between the tables, his eyes travelling upwards the whole time; _where do I sit? Where's…oh_; only then did he kick his memory back into gear and recall both where his other two companions had headed immediately prior to his own arrival, and also why they had engaged themselves on that expedient errand as they had.

Like always, it seemed that once he glanced back at the people he was certain were looking at him, they all dropped their gazes and looked elsewhere; why this was he had no real idea and, if he was completely honest, bugged him more than the outright staring – the basic fact of the matter was that he was unusual and it was nature, both human and Mobian, to gawp at unusual things. A slight chorus of whispers sprang up like an undertow of faint breeze, mostly from the younger armadillos present, almost immediately hushed by their parents, something Big was a little disconcerted by; much more so than adults, he got on well with children whom, once they managed to overcome their shyness about approaching someone so obviously bigger than them, quickly discovered he was a gentle giant in every sense of the word. _In short_; it was always the same in society really, certain rules had to be obeyed by all concerned even if those very same rules had to be a little bent to fit around him; _off the road and back to reality..._;

"Blast and buggery both"; _…or perhaps not_; the oath made the whole room jump, shattering the stillness as abruptly as one of the trademark explosions Sonic left in his wake, "he can't be real; okay, we're all impressed, you can take the suit off now". Swiftly locating the source of the noise, Big shook with silent laughter as he beheld the thunderstruck expression of the armadillo before him, only the top half of his face visible for a second before the family member he was holding pulled herself free of his embrace, Mighty having to fight harder than Big to keep the giggles out of her voice as Emily stood slightly off to one side looking mortified,

"No suit there uncle"; _damn, have to go around_; already at pretty much the halfway point between the front and back of the hallway, Big decided carrying on forwards was just as easy as turning back and pushed forwards, aiming to pass between the two tables and then come back around as his girlfriend finished her introduction, "this is the 'one other' who volunteered for the trip to this nut-house; the one and only Big".

"One and only; never", pausing in his approach for a second, the aforementioned cat thought back to what Rebekka had said earlier and decided that going on Mighty's introduction, the armadillo currently giving him a rough-and-ready form of greeting was probably Derek's father and therefore Emily's brother, "that's three of them stood on top of each other or y'can call me a soft-shell".

"I'd do that anyway; soft-shelled and soft in the head to boot".

"Boot; aye, too bad my darling sister had too soft a heart to use hers when you were a nipper – six of the finest now and then would have done you the power of good". Mighty screwed up her face one last time but couldn't hold the mock-disgust; most of her disappeared from Big's view again, lost behind the shell of her uncle as she embraced him again,

"It's good to see you again Gav".

"Too right Mighty, you as well, and you sis; it's good to see you all looking so well after another year with that misery"; _two friends in almost as many minutes – when you're hot, you're hot_; it was only with the greatest of difficulty that Big managed to keep quiet his delight at finding someone else who was as disgusted as he was about Stefan's attitude in general, "though it's not all doom and gloom; your mother tells me you've had a busy year, new job, new man and touching base with the old Smurf again; how many years ago since we saw him last?"

"Too many for me to remember, and too many for you to even think about remembering silver-back, but anyway this here", having finally completed his trek, Big still possessed enough wits to lower his head deferentially as both armadillos turned to face him and the one he was intimately attached to finished her introduction, "is the Mobian mad enough to stand up to a knife to protect my honour and innocence, and Big, this here is, unfortunately, my uncle Gavin".

"My elder brother", Emily chipped in as Big's hand performed its customary trick and swallowed half the forearm of the Mobian he was shaking hands with, "unfortunately the one of my younger two couldn't make it this year; any idea what's wrong with the little one?"

"Nothing good I know that much; poor little chit's been in and out of hospital most of the past six months but Adi never says exactly what's wrong with him", dropping Big's hand and moving to stand closer to his sister, for a second Gavin's eyes became more mournful before he was able to cheer himself up once more, "still, he said he'd definitely make it next time around, as you will I hope – my niece was quite the man-eater in her wild-child days, I just hope she's grown up a touch since then". _Looks like sharp tongues run in the family, death-stares too for that matter_; though he understood that family get-togethers simply wouldn't be the same without a couple of flare-ups here and there, Big decided he was too hungry to think about putting down a brawl now and quickly steered the conversation towards some more agreeable ground before Mighty could make good on the dire promises her eyes were swearing against her uncle's unresponsive back. Well, sort of,

"Grown up maybe, grown outwards certainly, though I'm hardly one to talk about that sort of thing", just a glimpse of the Look Mighty had sent searing into him convinced him that promise was necessary to save his skin from a pasting at some later date, "and just to prove it, I'm starving and I heard the food's on it's way, am I wrong?"

"I should hope not, I haven't eaten either. Hoy, Wull, you got that old crow of yours brewing up her poison again?"

"Oh aye, an' you can be sure she'll be saving a 'specially big dose f'you Garrivant".

XXX

The call made the cat look around; aside from the other members of the extended family he'd noticed minding their own business on the other feasting table, he hadn't seen anyone else around, so who had Gavin been speaking too, and who had answered him back?

"Good; not meaning to be disparaging to our equine cousins, but I could eat a horse", this time following the face of the bellowing armadillo, the cat managed to see both a new gentleman in the main hall and, more importantly, the side door he'd emerged from. Going from what he knew for the layout of old-fashioned mansions such as this one, Big reckoned that those doors led down to what had once been the kitchens, or maybe they still were – after all, the Highland Steppes must have been able to cater for its guests. Filing away that query to ask later when he had a moment's peace, Big turned his attention back towards where the other man was approaching them; as he left the shadows coiled around the door he'd entered the room from, Big felt reasonably confident that he was looking at the Sassenach that had taken a shine to the flame-maned Rebekka.

_What did Gav call him?_; as with all things to do with his memory, he input a question and the answer was immediately forthcoming; _Wull, that'd be Scottish for Will I take it – well I suppose he must have picked up a bit of an accent – I wonder how long he's been married to his wife?_ Though an interesting question it wasn't one Big's manners were going to allow him to ask a complete stranger; he merely found his way to the seat Mighty had pulled out for him and sat down gratefully, the sensation of finally being able to stretch out his legs in a seat only improved by the certainty that the carved wood making up the chair was never going to give way underneath him; oak was as strong in chairs as it was in tables.

"Ahh", his wriggled his toes within his boat-like shoes, every little movement priceless to him as he slumped back in the chair and let his eyelids fall, "that's a lot better".

"Too right"; opening his closest eye a crack, the cat regarded Mighty in similar straights to the side of him, her body as relaxed as it was ever going to be due to the confines of her shell, "wood beats leather any day of the week. Come on mum, take a seat; you must be as hungry as we are". Emily didn't answer exactly, merely pulled out a place at the table for herself and took her seat with epitomic grace, though the rueful expression on her face told things more plainly, and more powerfully, than any words were ever going to manage.

"Huh"; _joining us then?_; Big couldn't help but raise an eyebrow and give a very quiet snicker as Gavin slumped down next to him, leaning his elbows on the table and looking across him to speak to his niece, "old Smiler still not got that jalopy of his reupholstered yet?"

"Not now, not ever, and don't call him Smiler – trades descriptions act and all that, they'd have a cast-iron case on you".

"And she's not wrong"; _good, knew it wouldn't take you long_; though she tried her hardest not to let anything show on her face Mighty's spirit rejoiced as she heard her words backed up by her mother's statement; _something about this place, still got the old magic – you can say what the hell you want to about Stefan here and he's not going to do anything about it_.

Hints of rebellion stirring around in her soul, the younger armadillo once more entertained her notions of when she had been small, the thought of staying here forever, of never leaving the Steppes and letting Stefan go home alone to live with his coldness on his own. She'd thought about it almost every time she'd been at this special event in her life and always she'd had to let it go; even if she could have hidden from the searching party that would have scoured the hostel from top to bottom, she would have had to go back for the sake of her mother. Emily's heart would have broken completely if anything had happened to her as a child, and out of love for one of her parents she'd never even really tried to put her thoughts into action; that and the thoughts about what the other of her parents could have done had she tried and been caught had been enough to stay her hand. But it was still a dream of hers, a dream she cherished and indulged for the moment, until a shadow fell over her and something landed on the table in front of her with a thud, jerking her from her reverie,

"Ma little Mighty", she looked up in time to see the shadow of the old hand approach, not resisting as it settled on her cheek, caressing the soft flesh there as it had nearly every year of her life, "though not so little now; it's good to see you again, an' you young Millie", as Mighty almost purred and turned her face into the caress, Emily maintained her dignity a little better, smiled and shook the man's free hand, winking into his spectacles as he balanced the menus he had yet to deliver expertly in the crook of his arm,

"And you William; been a good year for you and your little patch above the border?"

"Ah, not too bad, though we could have done without the rainy autumn; water shortage my foot, the loch came close to spilling over its banks again", the man muttered disgustedly as he let mother and daughter both go, the neatly-clipped moustache just under his nose quivering as thought sharing his sense of injustice, "but no, not too bad overall. What about you – ach, forget that, you can tell me and the wife later, now we've got to get you all fed and watered; Em, where've you hidden your other half, or did you get away without him this time".

"He's parking the car and dealing with the bags", she replied simply; it might just have been his imagination seeing things he could only hope were true, but Big felt certain he saw the man's face fall for a second before he caught himself at the armadillo's next words, "just leave a menu, he'll be along in a minute".

"Right, done and dusted then", the human shrugged as he dropped a menu carelessly into the empty place on the other side of Emily, the impact making some of the crockery clink before he turned to the other pair of Mobians waiting to be served. Obviously, he came up close to Big first and, after peering at the cat closely through his spectacles, flashed his eyes sideways and made the connection,

"So, you must be the guest Mighty brought along", Big nodded once and the man stepped back, offering his hand more formally than he had with either of the previous armadillos, "well sir, I'm William Besthem, the co-owner of the Highland Steppes when the wife says I am. Just call me Wull though, makes life easier. And you are?"

The cat didn't answer immediately; he took a couple of second out first to size up the man he was speaking to and wonder if this could really be the man Rebekka had chosen to marry. He didn't look to be anything much out of the ordinary; he seemed to be just an average man, advancing from middle towards elder age at a steady pace as his glasses and a couple of streaks of grey in his moustache proved. In contrast to his wife he had little hair on his head, what was left congregating around the sides and rear of his scalp rather than directly on top of it. He was smartly but plainly dressed, nothing ostentatious but everything professional in his manner – he reminded the cat a little of Mr Trenton in that regard, proper and formal with people he was unfamiliar with but much more relaxed around loyal and long-standing customers; _and Mighty's family have been just that and more haven't they?_;

"I understand completely if you laugh; my name's Big"; he was a real pro, he swallowed the inherent humour in the cat's name with barely a flicker of amusement – the cat upped his respect of the man before him as he continued, "and Mighty invited me to this get-together. I must say I'm looking forwards to it – she assured me the food's something to savour". Wulls' glasses twinkled in the light as he regarded the cat more closely, Big doing his best to look completely sincere and, as the human backed down fractionally with a laugh and pro-offered him a menu, the cat decided he must have done enough,

"Well we do oor best, or at least the wife does; we've had no complaints yet, put it that way". There was a choked spluttered from Big's left; Gavin had filled his glass from one of the pitchers spaced evenly round the table and had been in the process of taking a sip at Wull's last comment,

"An, and you're surprised by that", the armadillo exclaimed between coughs, "no complaints; only because anyone who had the guts to even try got turned into something nasty by that witch you've got slaving over a hot stove downstairs". The co-owner of the Steppes turned to look at him, one bushy, auburn eyebrow cocked,

"She's currently slaving over a hot stove containing tha' beetroot soup I happen to know you've got a soft spot for; shall I pass on your compliments?" _That put his gas at a peep_; the silence from the side of him spoke volumes and Big glanced to the side of him to see Mighty sniggering at her uncle's dilemma, Emily only marginally better at keeping her amusement hidden. Gavin ummed and ahhed for a few more seconds, trying to see a way out of his dilemma for a couple of seconds before shrugging, giving up to a compromise,

"Oh go on then, but tell her this better be the best damn soup ever to grace this dinner table", Wull nodded and began to move away smirking, forcing the armadillo to raise his voice to get his last shot in, "and tell her not to bother with the bowl, just send the whole cauldron up; beetroot, chimney soot, eye of newt and all".

XXX

"Take your time deciding, he'll be back in a second".

"Right", having barely opened his menu, the cat decided it was probably pertinent to ask, "are you having a starter?" There was a snort from further down the table, Emily doubling over with one hand over her mouth and utter mirth in her eyes at the same time her daughter rotated her head up to glare at him through eyes pinched with hunger,

"After the day I've had too bloody right I'm having a starter, and a main course, pudding, elevenses and a midnight snack if I can wangle it". Big chuckled and reached over to rub her cheek affectionately as he did so; it was still warm from when Wull had run his hand over it,

"All right, point taken", he admitted in an abashed tone, Mighty losing her scowl an instant later, "anyway, I'm new here; what's good?"

"All of it", Emily chipped in, scrutinising her own sheets of laminate as she made her own mind up about what to have, "all the seafood's home grown, get the scallops and clams from the loch, though I wouldn't recommend the venison if you're not a fan of smoky meat, got a aftertaste if you know what I mean. The rabbit's nice though", she added, not noticing Big wince at the word; somehow the mental picture of Cream filleted and trussed up on a silver dish with an apple in her mouth didn't do much for his digestive processes. Still he was hungry and, if truth be told, a little curious to see how this exotic fare measured up to what he had at home,

"Think I'll just stick with the scallops, I'll decide on the main course later".

"Not a bad plan, just tell Wull when he gets back with my soup", Gavin breezed airily, eyes not leaving the entrance to the kitchens as he awaited his meal, "he's sort of head waiter around here, though I think they get help in over Christmas to cope with us lot".

"From what Mighty's been saying they need it", another though crossed Big's mind, "how many are you expecting this year, and, more to the point, how many are here now? And where's your son – I'm sharing a room with him", the cat explained niftily as the armadillo gave a suddenly sharp look from the corner of his eye. Luckily he appeared mollified by Big's description of the scenario and thus merely shrugged,

"Derek? No idea, probably loafing around somewhere I assume, in his room probably – huh, why break the habit of a lifetime? Anyway, who and how many – no idea and do we really care, the more that can make it the merrier, it's always been like that".

"Too right", Mighty cut in, her menu on the tabletop as it appeared she'd made her selection, "we all pull together to help everyone else get here, those who can't usually manage on their own, money a bit tight or something; no!"

"No…?"

"No you don't do anything", Emily answered for her daughter, now looking slightly stern, "guests don't pay, simple as that; we're a family and a family helps itself, if it doesn't then, "she shrugged, "not really much of a family is it?"

"I suppose not", Big concurred after totting it up in his head, "I live away from mine a lot you see, it's not quite the same thing; we don't tend to get the whole pride together except on very rare occasions".

"Oh yeah", Gavin spoke this time, eyeing the cat up from the corner of his eye, "your ancestors sowed their wild oats far and wide as well did they?" The cat chortled, Mighty did as well though not for the same reasons – she'd seen her mother cringe out the corner of her eye; _gotta love uncle Gav for that – there's one in every family_;

"Something like that; I think I've got a couple of relatives I've never even seen".

"Sometimes that sounds like a beautiful dream".

"Emily", the oldest armadillo present leaned forwards to gawp down the table past Big to where his younger sister was glaring at him filthily, "I'm wounded".

"Not yet you're not, don't tempt me; I've got enough on my plate right now without you and Sammy-boy lowering the tone every chance you get – I've tried to tell our new guest that Mighty and I come from a respectable family".

A loud peal of laughter rang out across the feasting hall making all their heads turn; the armadillos across the room, obviously listening in now they'd finished their meals, were howling in laughter and pointing Emily out, their outright hilarity all but shaking the table. Now he paid them more attention, Big realised that there were at least three separate families there, all seated a little apart from each other and consisting of three, five and six Mobians respectively. The eldest looked to be in his sixties, the youngest was still in her cot and somehow fast asleep against the din as one of the eldest wiped his eyes and scooped something off the floor to point across the room at them like a gun barrel. Only as it wavered in the air from his less than steady grip did Big realise that, rather than a weapon, he was being put on the spot by a walking stick,

"Please, please don' tell me you believed her?" The oldster collapsed onto the table, his hysteria echoed by Gavin thumping the table and pointing weakly at his sister, face red from laughing so hard, "my boy, you got stitched like a kipper if you went with that old tale. Us, respe, respectahahahahaaa?" He disintegrated once more and Big smiled, almost certain this display would be going down like a lead balloon with the armadillos on his right hand side; _five-to-one at least one less relation leaves this place than actually arrives here_; only to hear a snicker as Emily rolled her eyes and shoulders as though admitting she'd got something wrong,

"I brought this on myself didn't I?"

"Too right", the throng opposite chorused back and, deciding now was as good an opportunity as ever, Big decided to try to ferret out some of the information he was after,

"Umm, sorry if this sounds rude", he almost winced, his voice far too loud and bellowing for his liking as he was suddenly picked out by the spotlight of what felt like hundreds of eyes, "but who exactly are all of you, in relation to…" He got no further as there was a tug on his closest arm, Mighty shaking her head at him as the rest of the room fell slightly quieter, allowing a general hubbub of conversation to bubble away in the background as she made her explanation,

"Sorry Big, I wanted to explain earlier but, well", she shrugged, looking as apologetic as it was for a Mobian capable of ripping lampposts of the street tarmac with her bare hands to look, "it's a touch complicated. Basically there's an unwritten law here; eat first, talk later – when you get here for the first night, sit on this table and order a meal, when you're full, go over to that table and start catching up. Like I said", she tried to act nonchalant as Big furrowed his brow to make sense of it all, "it's hard to explain, but we need a system like that otherwise some of us might well starve". _True enough, especially if they're just in such a rush to get here they forget to have any breakfast beforehand_; even as he thought it he knew it wasn't true – Mighty had gone without to get him away from Stefan and try to give him a bit of a heads-up into just how much of a grizzled son-of-a-bitch he could be, he had to be grateful for that.

"Sounds good to me", he winked at her before looking across the room again and raising his voice, "catch you all in a minute". A loud hail of confirmations and a couple of glasses raised in his direction sealed that deal so he inclined his head and sat back to wait with a patience long-refined by hours watching his lure from the riverbank, or grinding and sanding from a shapeless lump of wood the pieces that would come together to construct a finished photographic frame for his chance to order a meal.

"Well said"; he glanced over at Emily's voice, the armadillo's pretty smile warming him the way his own mother's could have done when he'd been little more than a kitten before a dig in the ribs diverted his attention somewhat and he found himself looking at Gavin instead. There was slightly more of a calculated aspect to his expression now; Big had the feeling he'd broken through the first couple of barriers impeding him from reaching the respect of his girlfriend's uncle,

"Seconded; I always heard cat's tongues were rough but, heh, looks like they might be silvered too". Big shrugged,

"I have my moments". _I'll bet_; for an instant Gavin's eyes flickered between the cat and his niece, trying to work out what had gone on between the two of them; _umm, nah, can't be sure – just leave it for now, you can find out the meat of the matter later_. It was true, he had enough time to work on this problem and, if all else failed, plenty of opportunity to corner his sister and find out her point of view on the matter – he knew from long, painful experience that trying to ask his brother-in-law anything was a waste of breath, time and patience,

"Good, it's all good, but time is short and I say we go with my niece's fine suggestion. I, in fact everyone'll look forwards to speaking with you later Big guy, but for now", with a delicious aroma he knew so well filling up his nostrils and a spoon close at hand, the mood for further talk had simply deserted him; he didn't even have to look around to see what Wull was bringing his way, "we eat".

A/N: Eat, eat away all of you; you'll need a lot of energy for the introductions next chapter – hopefully won't take me as long to write it, but I'm still getting to grips with my new job so it'll have to be a fingers-crossed job I'm afraid. Just out of interest, did I do a convincing Scottish accent?


	8. Chapter 8 New Friends Young and Old

Chapter 8 – New Friends Young and Old.

A/N: Just got this chapter up in time; might be a bit of a delay for the next one as a couple of upheavals are taking place in my life. Anyway I'll keep this bit brief and just sound out to the reviewers:

Ri2 – Excellent; I'm glad the family so far it to your taste. And you don't like Stefan – perfect, I think I just got the blend of snobbishness and abrasiveness just right; hold your nose, I think he's about to get worse.

BC – Err, thanks for the review; just one thing though – Rebekka's not an armadillo, she's just a traditional Scottish woman who doesn't take any flak from anyone, least of all obnoxious gits like Stefan. Aside from that, glad my info was helpful; if there's anything else you'd like to know mention it to me, I might be able to help (and believe me I'll be writing this for a long time after you've started uni!)

Gavin had said they'd eat, and eat they most assuredly did; indeed it was only as he sat back to take a deep breath and drink in the scents of the combined meals that he and the armadillos on the left and right of him were tucking into that he actually registered the taste that had flooded out over his tongue. A deep, contented sigh filled the air around him as he patted his stomach, replete after going so long without sustenance for such a long time and able to take some time out to observe the proceedings with a lazy flicker of his eyes, hiding his smile a second later; _ah, I take it you've not quite got over your skipped couple of meals?_ His observations more than supported his theory; Mighty had demolished the starter Wull had laid down before her with barely time to spare for a breath as she seemed already to be looking for something else to chew down upon, and even Emily seemed to be slightly less reserved in her consumption than he had seen her at breakfast. In fact of all of them Gavin seemed to be the one most in command of himself during the snack break, a fact all the more amazing taking into account what had been said about him by the woman who had pointed them in the direction of the feast hall in the first place; mind you, Gavin himself had been far less than complimentary about Rebekka from what he'd heard so far. _Still_; fishing a titbit of scientific jargon from the recesses of his memory, Big found himself nodding at the truth imparted to him by one of his old chemistry teaching; _idle speculations are all well and good, but without hard evidence they're worth the paper they're written on – which isn't a lot since you never wrote them down in the first place._ Working out what he wanted to say and a polite way of saying it, the cat acted on it, nudging the armadillo's closest arm gently as he deposited his cup back from the table, having quaffed from it a second earlier,

"Hey Gavin?" The target of his attention looked around, interested by the sudden contact,

"Yeah, what's up?"

"How come you're not so hungry – Bekka said you were stuffing yourself ripe for the mantelpiece the way we heard it?" As he'd hoped and expected, Big's question made its target laugh and set his aside his fork for a moment,

"That was all?" _Not sure why you asked that – just smile and nod_; though not quite sure why Gavin had wanted to know that, the cat was nevertheless sure that whatever the reason it wasn't a question asked out of spite or narrow-minded ill-humour and as such gave a truthful response, "ah, she's losing her edge then; I'd be expecting much better from her this time, she's had all year to prepare". That was a lure and no mistake; Big knew the question he was expected to ask and, though he took a moment to reason through the most probable answers he was likely to receive, duly decided it was overall worth finding out,

"Prepare for what?"

"For me of course", Gavin replied with a self-satisfied smile, kicking back in his chair to fold his hands back behind his head carelessly, almost looking up at the ceiling as his eyes wandered away, "me and that old storm-caller have been at it hammer-on-tongs every year since I was knee-high to her and I've no doubt she's ready for another round this year. Mind you"; _now why does this look so familiar?_; Gavin's face was so much like that of his niece for a moment that Big couldn't help but chuckle at the similarity of expression as well as words; _how many stitch-ups and get-your-own-backs have we plotted like this over a cup of hot brew and a platter of fish bones?_; "if that were her best shot I've got nothing to worry about; to use an analogy from my favourite sport, she'll be kissing the canvas before the end of round two".

"That's as maybe, but don't slip that horseshoe out of your glove yet", Big chuckled, Gavin raising an interested eyebrow as the cat dipped his head a little lower, "don't forget we're still scheduled to go a full twelve rounds here".

"True enough, and whatever her tongue was lacking earlier it wasn't missing from her cook-pot", pausing only to transfer another morsel from cutlery to chops, "she's trying to reel me in, lower my guard ready for tomorrow; good plan Bekka", spearing another of the few mouthfuls left on his plate, Gavin raised it to eye level and considered for a moment, then he shrugged his shoulders and ate it anyway, "bet it works".

"So do I the rate you're going at it, and the rate I was too come to think of it".

"But you've got an excuse for it", the armadillo countered succinctly before his eyes hardened and his voice dropped simultaneously, "I know my baby sister's too…too something to mention it, God knows I'd be crowing it from every rooftop if he acted anything like that towards me, but I know what that SOB does on the journey here every year, knew he'd done it again when you all came in. I'm not wrong am I; you're all a shadow-step from starving aren't you?"

_Can't deny it – but at least someone knows and cares_; uncovering that crumb of comfort Big would have given answer when, with an echoing bang, something pushed open the door of the feasting hall, an aura of chill preceding it that answered Gavin's question better even than anything Big's memory could recall as being worth saying.

XXX

Despite the dusting of snow being shaken loose with every step forwards Stefan took, Big's first thought wasn't about the weather, or even about how lucky he and the armadillos he'd travelled with had been to avoid it in the first place; no, his first thought was directed straight at the returning grey-shell and stated simply; _where have you been?_ Trying to work it all out and taking into consideration the journeys involved upstairs and down, each time having to find a different room, the simple fact of the matter was Stefan had been gone for over twenty minutes and there was no way it should have taken that long to get the car unloaded. _Or, to be more nastily exact_; being nasty wasn't Big's forte by a long shot but around Stefan, he realised grimly, it was becoming a lot easier than otherwise; _it might have done and he should have asked for help but was too stuck-up to do so_; yeah, now that he thought about it that sounded a heck of a lot more realistic. His thoughts, however, were jarred by two things in quick succession,

"Hey Stefan", pausing in his tracking towards where his wife sat, the newest member of the gathering tuned his face towards the other table; quickly glancing along the assembled gathered there, Big realised with a jolt of shock that it was in fact the eldest-looking armadillo there who was hailing his girlfriends' father, "get here all right did you? And where'd you disappear off to just now?" _Boy, she must have some lungs on her_; the thought echoed in the cat's mind until it was prised loose by Stefan's knife-edge voice sliding under it,

"Yes Peggy, the journey was uneventful, unlike the arrival"; _what did I do?_; reeling for a second in shock, Big hastily steeled himself in the face of Stefan's withering glare, "I have just spent most of my time here thus far scraping cat hairs off the rear seats of my car; in the future Big, I'd be much obliged if you'd bring a car cover with you; it'll save on the costs of valeting and fumigating the car".

Though he virtually felt the rest of the room's population bristle at this shabby treatment of a guest by one of the extended family, Big himself merely grinned platonically; the mere fact that Stefan had addressed him on first-name terms was proof that he'd succeeded in cracking through the bone of the armadillo's misogyny, at least to a certain degree. Aside from the triumph that was crowing lustily deep inside his mind, all that concerned him was the hope against hope that Mighty was able to keep her face straight this one time; if Stefan didn't suspect he'd anticipated this already one look at his daughter would probably confirm it if she acted up now. _Still, not much you can do about it is there mate – try anything here, with all the rest of your clan around you and I guarantee I wouldn't be the only one putting you down_; the realisation that he'd got away scot-free only added to his joy, the feeling culminating as Stefan slumped into his seat bad-temperedly, though Emily must have tried to make a bad situation better for him as she tentatively reached for the empty glass nearest to him with one hand and the water jug with the other. At the sight Big looked away, some of his earlier feelings pouring out of him like the water Emily was emptying now; Mighty must have been right earlier, there were no two ways about it – for some reason that he couldn't even begin to fathom, despite his meanness and cold demeanour, Stefan still commanded the love of his wife. _Question is though_; the question that immediately followed up from this enlightenment depressed him further still, even more so as he realised he'd probably never know the answer to if; _does she still command his in any way?_

The question rattled around in his mind for a moment before a quiet scratching, tapping noise beside him disturbed his repose; glancing over, the cat felt himself start as he noticed the brightly-coloured packet Gavin was slipping into one of the pockets of the coat he'd slung over the back of his seat and, perhaps more alarmingly, the thin pencil-shaped stick of white he held loosely between the two largest fingers of his right hand. _Hang on, there's been a change up here recently – does he know?_;

"Gav", the armadillo looked around at his urgent whisper, apparently unconcerned that in a few seconds he'd be violating the law, "you can't smoke in here, the law'll come down on you like a tonne of hot lead".

"True enough it would do", he was either mad or had an ingenious plan in mind; _and if it's the latter I've got absolutely no idea what his game is_; "you know that, and I know that", casually slipping his latest cigarette into between his lips, Mighty's uncle inclined his head as he spoke around the obstacle now in his mouth, "and I'll stake you any money that he knows that as well. Watch". Still completely baffled, the huge cat nevertheless fell silent as Gavin leaned across the table, skilfully pinching his unlit fag from his lips to speak more clearly,

"Heya Stevie"; _ouch_; he didn't even need to look to know how well that would have gone down – okay so hand on heart only his affection for Mighty and her mother prevented his doing much the same thing but that had been a brazen attack on Stefan's sensibilities; _these two must really hate each other with a passion_; "started snowing has it?"

Maybe the old wives' tale was true; maybe inherent curiosity really did have it in for his species above all others, or maybe it was simply the fact that after a long, hot and certainly uncomfortable day, Big genuinely did want to see his new nemesis take a proper blow to his ego. Whatever the reason he found himself turning in his seat, his natural size granting him an easy view of the taller, paler armadillo's face blackening into an ugly mask; despite his natural inner fortitude, Big nevertheless found himself extremely grateful that he wasn't the target of Stefan's poisonous glare,

"Once more Gavin, your powers of observation astound me, succeeded only by your ignorance of the law", Stefan's eyes flamed with triumph, the sight akin to a pair of headlights reflecting from the eyes of a passing rodent as scathingly cold triumph seeped into his voice, "you are aware, I take it, that it is now illegal to smoke within an enclosed public place in this country? Please put your cigarette out and stop endangering all our health; I'd hate to have to turn in my own brother-in-law this close to the festive season". _Nothing would give you more pleasure you mean_; somehow even that false concern seemed a little more mocking issuing from Stefan's mouth, the verbal blades a little sharper and more venomous – flickering his vision sideways, he checked to see how Gavin was taking the hit, knowing full well that if it had been him insulted in such a manner he would have been all but baying for blood. _But then, of course_; it was in the middle of this movement that he finally managed to solve the puzzle; _it's not illegal to actually hold a cigarette in this country is it – they've not been banned outright_; the half-mile grin on Gavin's face told him he'd not been the only one to figure this fact out,

"Ah well then, just as well you won't have to isn't it?" Rotating his hand around, the black-shelled armadillo allowed his sanctimonious brother-in-law to glimpse the completely untouched end of the nicotine stick, "it's not actually lit; still, thanks for that, the ban had slipped my mind truth be told – nice to know someone's looking out for me".

"Looking out for you is completely right", Stefan's answer was a toneless drawl, everything that could be hurt in his cold soul withdrawn behind a protective layer of ice that very little could chip through, "unfortunately, here is the one place and time I've got no choice but to have an impromptu reunion". Gavin gave an affable shrug and his finest, friendliest, get-lost-now smile,

"True I suppose, still the fact you keep bringing our little sister back to the fold's enough to make it bearable for either of us". Stefan's lips twitched unpleasantly and Big felt his back fur bristle; he had an inkling about what was about to be said and unconsciously railed against it – as far as he was concerned sniping at family members you don't get on with was par for the course but using your immediate relations as pawns in a wicked chess game was crossing the line,

"Just about Gavin, but every year I ask myself if it is bearable; the answer's in doubt more often than you'd like to think". Big heard the clink of a hastily-dropped piece of cutlery and tensed himself, half-expecting to have to put down a brawl immediately before a third voice stepped into the mix, forcefully interposing itself between the two spitting combatants,

"Stop it, both of you"; _she's got a lot of bottle, and even more calm_; despite the tension he could see coiled up all across her body and in every line of her face, Big found himself wondering how Emily could keep her voice as virtually devoid of emotion as it was; _my mum wouldn't be standing for any of this – she'd have been on her way home by now on her own, husband and family left by the wayside equally_; "liking each other's optional but you will respect one another for as long as I'm here, and especially while my daughter's present. Do I make myself clear, to both of you?"

There was no answer to Emily's statement; it was no more a question than someone asking if either of the two quarrelling Mobians was still alive. Sensibly in light of the whitened, enraged mask that Mighty's mother had made her face, neither Gavin nor Stefan felt implied to try and test her patience; with a final glare at each other both backed down and turned to their meal and menu respectively, studiously ignoring the existence of his foe. A wave of pity swamped Big's golden heart as he caught a glimpse of Emily's expression a split-second before she lowered her attention back to her meal; at that moment, the depth of the struggle he could see between her family and her husband touched him right in the soft centre; it was a struggle he recognised and could empathise with so well because it was a struggle he had been forced to endure himself, one he was still enduring just as she was. _Not a day of my life goes by that I don't wonder if I got it wrong, leaving home when I did_; oh how he wished, just this once, he could take Mighty's place next to her mother – he was sure he could have helped her just by being someone to lean on; _it never really ends, that fight, and it must be harder for her than it was even for me – this is something she has to deal with every single year._

There was a discreet cough from somewhere close by; Big spared it a glance without his eyes really leaving the face of Mighty's mother and trying to help her see that she had an ally in this fight – he dropped his gaze in the next second, Stefan's drilling glare informing him in no uncertain terms of what the grey armadillo thought about people staring at his wife. Ducking his head as much as he was able to, the cat turned his attention back to finishing his meal, only flicking his eyes sideways occasionally, trying to catch Emily's gaze as he ate. He thought he managed it once and hoped she'd seen his supportive smile even if, as he looked past Mighty and virtually felt the tension coiled up within her tautened, hyper-sensitive muscles, he couldn't help but share her exact sentiments; _if this is the first couple of hours_; somehow the logical conclusion of this latest suspicion made even the delicious selection of main courses he had to choose from a little less delectable; _what's the rest of the night going to pan out like, never mind the rest of the holiday!_

XXX

Fortunately for all concerned, for the second time in a single night Stefan took it upon himself to answer a knotty unspoken question; no sooner had the last drop of melted ice-cream slipped down his throat than he had stood up and turned to look down on his wife,

"I'm going to get the room set up; come and find me when you're finished here for the night. You two", somehow Stefan managed to make a gesture as simple as pointing someone out in a crowd derogatory, "your bags are by the doors to your rooms, what you do with them's up to you. Goodnight". With that, he stood up and, superciliously not catching the eye of anyone who might have tried to look at him, walked slowly and purposefully towards the exit of the main hall of the Highland Steppes; if he was aware of the many eyes tracking his movements he didn't deign to acknowledge them, not even when he pushed his way out of the doorway and let it bang shut behind him, obscuring him from sight.

_Thank God for small mercies_; Big's relief was virtually tangible and all-consuming, so much so that he barely recognised he wasn't the only one sighing in relief – alongside him, Gavin was breathing like a pair of old bellows being pumped by a demented forge assistant.

"Well, glad that's over", the words rippled around the still room like a penny dropped into a well, each one echoing less and less as the tension Stefan seemed to carry around behind him like a personal thundercloud dispersed a little, "now we're all family again…"

"We always were family", another voice cut in, a little less chilly than before maybe but certainly nothing like warm enough to be considered even tepid as Emily spoke up, not looking directly at anyone, "I know you've approved of my husband as much as he approves of you but here, now, under this roof, we are all one family do you understand that?" _I'm not getting in the way of this_; remembering some of Mighty's earlier words, Big decided to take them to heart and leaned backwards as much as the seat would allow him to, definitely not wanting to end up in the middle of a dispute between armadillos if he could at all help it. It seemed that he'd made a wise move in this as Gavin's head shoot up to look past and through him, directly onto his sister's face; something between them crackled like static before a thunderstorm before, abruptly, the elder of the pair lowered his eyes and the potential for trouble drained away, earthing itself in the table top.

"I know Em", the voice that spoke sounded nothing like Gavin's; it was the tone of an old, tired man, an aspect he duly took up as he rose from his seat, leaning on the hardened oak before him as he struggled to rise; Big could see his niece looked very much as though she wanted to say something but couldn't quite pluck up the courage to make her thoughts reality while his sister did nothing, did not even acknowledge his approach as until he was almost directly behind her, one of his hands on her upper arm as her shell covered her shoulder, "I just worry about you, I always have even though I know you're old enough to know what you want out of life".

Then why do you worry?" Nothing gave and Big had his first inkling into how much of a businesswoman Emily really was, how hard she must have strived to master her emotions so completely to get what she wanted, "if Stefan does anything wrong I'll be the one to sort it out".

"I know that too", Gavin intoned solemnly, not relinquishing his grip, "but I worry about you, the same way everyone under this roof worries about everyone else under this roof, just because you're my sister, my only sister to boot, and more than that", suddenly his hand moved, his fingers darting forwards and around to flick and tickle the point of Emily's nose as his voice rose in pitch, "you're my only, ickle baby sister; I've got to watch out for you, it's what big brothers do!"

Though he didn't quite laugh himself, Big more than shared his girlfriend's sentiments as he saw the war that broke out over her mother's face; _she's better than Mighty, have to give her that, but…_; her fixed, screwed up expression finally broke completely and she slumped forwards for a second, giving up the struggle to control herself for a damage-limitation exercise as she attempted to keep her mingled laughter and outrage bottled back behind her fixed grin; _...knew that was going to happen_. She couldn't quite keep it all quiet; a couple of virtually-hysterical peeps of laughter trembled out from behind her clenched teeth as she span in her seat to half-see Gavin beaming down at her. Big suddenly found himself in a struggle to keep his own lips straight as Gavin made to embrace his sibling, only for his nascent smile to be replaced with a wince as, quick as lightning, Emily's hand flew upwards and the next second her brother was squawking in discomfort, arms and hands flapping wildly as Mighty simply cracked up at his predicament,

"Now then Gavin"; a tiny twist of the two fingers trapping the other armadillo's nose ensured she had his full attention; tempting as it was to see how far she could twist laterally before he was forced to do a full mid-air 180, she merely held her peace until her brother, eyes streaming, managed to whine back a reply of,

"Whhhaaaaaa-hat?"

"Much as it sounds like deja-vu, I take it you're never going to embarrass me like that again?"

"Ummm, awwk!" A second wrench made his mind up for him, "noooo!"

"Good". With a final hard tug and release Emily let go; Gavin staggered backwards, both hands clutching his face as she merely smoothed herself down, superbly disdainful of both his howls of agony and her daughter and guest cracking up beside her, "I'd hate to have to hurt you".

"Hurt?" Finally dragging his hands down enough to expose his watering eyes, Gavin glared at his sister as much as he was able to through the veil of tears, "what – every year. Why do you do that to me every year?" Emily merely shrugged, a much more affable look on her face as she answered for him,

"Because that's what ickle baby sisters do of course", Gavin glared as Mighty howled with laughter, slumping against where Big was trying his hardest to look serious even if his flanks were heaving with mirth, her mother's innocent tone and deliberately naïve expression had set her off completely, "I'd have thought you'd have figured that out by now".

XXX

"What'cher"; there was definitely a family resemblance here, Big could see that without even needing to hear the confirmation from the one who was supposed to be introducing them as he shook hands with the first armadillo to greet him since he'd made the trek over from the eating table to the greeting one,

"Glad to see you're all making friends here at least", the voice from the side of him muttered as Big released the other Mobians' hand and decided he instinctively liked this armadillo in much the same way he'd instinctively gotten on with Gavin; _mind you, they're probably from the same extended family_; "Big, this is my uncle Samson, mum's youngest brother; uncle, this is my partner Big".

"And too right too", Samson's nut-brown eyes sparkled as he stood up and punched the cat's arm lightly, "sounds like your parents have as much of a sense of humour as mine have; Samson for the love of God. All dad did was drop a Bible on the floor and pick the first boy's name he saw when it fell open". There was a sudden 'hah' from the side of him, another Mobian rising to her feet to stare directly at the armadillo before her, expression simultaneously hardened and amused,

"And you didn't try the same trick a year ago? Pay no attention to him Big, he's the world's biggest hypocrite".

"I am not", ignoring the cat completely, Samson turned to look at his accuser; taking the opportunity, Big glanced over his shoulder for help only to see his girlfriend shake her head in time with her shoulders, enthralled by the argument that was brewing up a treat in front of them, "I was just looking for, er, for inspiration"; _I think you just found some as well_; consoling himself with the fact that no-one was arguing with him, the cat decided to take a place on the sidelines and enjoy the spectacle, "I wasn't actually going to use that one…"

"Too right you weren't; no way on this earth or any other is my little girl going through life as a reincarnation of the original call-girl", blasting her partner with a final disdainful glare, the other Mobian finally got around to looking past him and her eyes settled on where Big was trying to look inconspicuous. Of course, being a good couple of feet taller than everyone else assembled and covered in vivid purple fur was hardly going to be a help to him in that regard, but with a low sigh that whistled from between his teeth he quickly realised that it wasn't necessary to try and escape. Much as the armadillo before her had done, the squirrel stepped forwards and past Samson, one arm welcomingly open as she winked at where Mighty and Emily were stood,

"All right you pair, got rid of the old grinch again? Good for you, and you as well Big man"; _thanks, I think_; not exactly sure what he was meant to do, Big froze as the much smaller Mobian put her arm around him as much as she was able to; _okay, okay – don't panic, just relax and act natural_. Thinking along these lines Big gradually, ever so gradually, lowered his face enough to brush cheeks with the newcomer; she stepped away a second later, Big virtually threw himself backwards, trying to regather his composure as the squirrel put her hands on her hips, head cocked to one side as she sized him up with pursed lips,

"Well now Mich, sure got yourself a jumpy one this time – thought you were about to pass out for a minute there".

"Umm", Big groped for something worthwhile to say, uncomfortably aware that his cheeks were beginning to burn as it seemed that everyone else in the room was staring straight at him, "just, not used to that – cats don't hug as a general rule, just in case, especially when they're this size. You're lucky", a little flash of wordplay came through to save his bacon and he nodded at the squirrel's hands, bare, he noticed, of the gloves most Mobians wore, "you've only got yours to scrabble up tree bark; we had to take down dinner with ours".

"Tree-bark?" Samson's face, just behind the Mobian Big assumed was either his wife or long-term partner, crumpled with laughter as she jerked a thumb over her shoulder to point him out, "you have any idea how many footballs I've fished off our roof after him and his mates have been playing five-a-side, or how many windows I've replaced come to that?"

"Judging by your face I'd say far too many".

"You got that bit right", she assured him, one of her hands reaching up to sweep her fringe out of her face as before going forwards, offered as a gesture Big understood and accepted much more easily than her previous greeting, "anyway, Paula's my name and", with the air of a Mobian about to let someone in on a priceless secret she tugged on the palm of his hand; Big allowed himself to be led forwards meekly towards where he could see a baby basket was set up on the table, its tiny occupant probably asleep as no noise issued from it, "this is my little lady; Jess is her name, not Jezabel as some who should know better", there was a nasty look towards where some of the family as yet unknown to Big were sat suddenly trying to look innocent, "keep calling her". He heard a squeak behind him and looked over his shoulder, Mighty glanced up from the chair she'd moved out of her way and shrugged,

"What? I want to see my new cousin".

"You've not...of course you haven't", Big remembered in the nick of time, turning to Samson as he was led inexorably towards where the squirrel was dragging him, the brush of her tail swishing against his arm, "Sam, I take it you live up here?" He shook his head,

"Nah, we're from the south, England; still a long way from where Mighty makes her money now. Did you get the pictures though?" His niece nodded eagerly,

"Oh yeah, she looked a little sweet-heart; takes after her mum I think"; _ouch_; Big forced himself to focus on his destination to hide his smile as Mighty's retort hit her uncle squarely. He didn't have long to recompose himself though; in barely seconds he was stood directly before where Paula's child lay, his great heart subliming to pulp as he beheld the tiny infant sleeping so soundly.

His first thought, other than the certainty that she was the cutest baby he'd ever seen before in his life, was that Mighty had been right about something; Jess had definitely taken on the armadillo half of her parentage, much as Emily had done. Here though the difference was even more pronounced; as the baby slept on, Big stared at her as though mesmerised, trying to find some signs that would indicate the squirrel half of her – other than the fact her fur was a little thicker and lighter in colour than most armadillos were, and the fact she had her mother's dew claws on each of her tiny hands, there was nothing. _Wow, armadillo genes really must be as strong as the armadillos themselves_; only the thought that he might upset Jess's sleeping kept him from giving a low whistle; in fact it was only when he felt a pressure by the side of him that he heard any noise. With a soft croon, Mighty reached forwards only to pull her hands away suddenly, refraining from touching the slumbering baby the same way her partner had refrained from speaking near her,

"She's adorable", the armadillo murmured softly, glancing away to see the proud parents beaming away merrily, "right little angel this one". Samson snorted,

"And you thought she took after her mother – oofff!" Reeling from his wife's dig in the ribs, he glanced up at her impassive face and tried to think of a way to get back into her good books at very short notice, "I was certain of it, first look I got at her". Paula raised an eyebrow, trying to work out if he was taking the mick, before smiling at him in kind,

"Yeah, I know we don't look alike, weren't expecting us to, but at least she's got my gift for finding the land of Nod". Emily chuckled, stepping forwards towards her brother and his wife as their child kept her daughter and her guest occupied,

"You always could get to sleep anywhere Paula, remember that time there was a huge storm, about four, maybe five years ago, right overhead. They couldn't even get the front door open next day…"

"…And I slept right through it, never even batted an eyelid", the squirrel chuckled, reminding Big more and more of one of his sisters with every moment; fighting back a sudden pang of homesickness, he took a step away from the baby carrier and a deep breath, Mighty glancing up at him in sudden concern, whispering in a low voice,

"You all right?"

"Yeah, yeah I am; just got a lot to get my head around, being here and all, lots of new faces to remember"; he tipped her a wink that he could only hope disguised the longing for his family that was still roiling around in his guts, though the pain was lessening the more he looked at Mighty and reminded himself of what she'd gone through to get him here. Apparently convinced, she took a last, searching look at his face before turning to her youngest uncle, grinning widely now,

"Crashing anywhere then still? How's the business going – got her mucking out the kennels yet?"

"Nah, that's what her mother's for", Samson replied in a hushed tone, shooting his eyes around guiltily to see if he'd been overhead by either of the two women now chatting away merrily, "anyway we're going from strength to strength, though I'm always afraid to leave at this time of year; Christmas is our busiest time after all; idiots, taking on animals they don't want for kids that are too stupid and lazy to look after them right. Yeah, you might have guessed, my wife and I run a kennel-stroke-cattery", Big nodded to show his understanding before the armadillo continued, "I guarantee it, the second I'm back the place'll be heaving with strays; sometimes I despair".

"I do too, but that's no reason to give up; in fact it's an incentive", Big reasoned, Samson looking up at him with something like respect in his eyes as the cat continued, "you've got to get all those pets into homes that'll love and look after them, a job you must be doing well if your business is on the up like you said it was".

"Into homes or into active service", the voice of the armadillo's wife floated over to them, "got a couple of them into the forces, some right little troopers have come out of our kennels I can tell you". Mighty sniggered for a minute, looking Paula directly in the eye at the same time as see her own mother's face drop into a cringe again,

"Some little troopers passing out through your doors", she waited just until the squirrel had dropped her head into a nod before smirking and pointing to the side of her, "and one more going into them soon unless I'm much mistaken".

The most amazing thing was, Big later realised when he'd recovered from his sudden bout of laughter-induced hiccups, was that throughout the entire laughing ordeal for most of the family, Jess had remained steadfastly asleep in her crib and setting a much more dignified example than the older Mobians could manage between them.

XXX

_Hmm, now do you remind me of someone else I've met before?_;

"Now don't you come over here dragging that moving hearth-rug along behind you; I heard, not a single hello, good evening, nothing between the lot of you – I'm just another crabbit old woman for you young harum-sacrum's to leave fossilising while you go and stuff you faces. Go on", contemptuously she turned her head away, leaving them facing the blank, unforgiving expanse of the shell covering her cheek; _yep, pure Thunderhawk to a tee_; "away with you all, you'll have no joy out of me". Leaving Mighty to figure out if this particular family member really was as cranky as she was making herself out to be, Big settled onto his back foot a little more and tried to use all the knowledge the Mr Trenton had imparted to him to try to gauge the age of the armadillo before him. Even though he was certain she was the oldest present by a long shot, accurate guesstimation of the passing of the years was not an easy thing to accomplish; okay so the shell he could see looked like it had had a couple of chips taken out of it here and there and he could see a walking stick hung casually on the back of the chair but what did that really mean – after all, Mighty had told him herself that this was the eventual fate of all armadillos regardless of age.

"Fair enough then", the cat was jerked back to the present as it appeared Mighty had made her mind up on the way forwards; shrugging her shoulders, she made to go around her obtuse relative, "moving swiftly on…" With a swish and blur of brown motion, both Mobians found their progress arrested by the walking stick flying up to impede their progress, bringing them to a halt so suddenly that Mighty was forced to view it cross-eyed,

"You walk past me young lady and I'll break this old wand over your tail while you're hanging over my knee; you on the other hand", Mighty dropped to her haunches just in time to avoid the walking stick whistling over her head, skimming her ears as it came to rest dead centre in Big's chest, "you I'd go easy on, not risking my legs on someone who doesn't deserve them".

"Hmm, interesting", seemingly unperturbed by the threat of being laid into by a Mobian at least three or four times as old as he was, Big instead took a closer look at the wooden stick wavering just under his nose; raising a single hand, he gently pinched it between two fingers to hold it steady, "I was originally going to say oak but that's not right is it; if I'm any judge I'd say…stained maple, or failing that beech overlaid with something else. Certainly strong and whippy enough to be beech". Releasing the walking aid with a shrug, he observed how well his comments had gone down and, sure enough, the oldster, the one who'd originally greeted Stefan he now realised, was looking at him flabbergasted.

"You know your wood then Big?" Looking over his shoulder the cat wasn't altogether surprised to see the squirrel Paula looking at him appraisingly, her daughter's cot swinging from one hand as she and her husband were retiring early for the sake of their baby.

"It's the stuff I frame pictures with, I aught to know it well enough", he replied with a gruff chuckle, "still an apprentice though – be a long time before I can even think about claiming to every species of tree out there".

"Same for her"; cat and squirrel both jerked around to see if they could identify the speaker but he had wisely gone to ground amid the rest of the as-yet-unintroduced family members leaving Paula to fume and Big to hold in his laughter; _oh boy, I really hope she didn't see who said that_;

"An' what's so funny, sonny Jim?" Choking down his giggling fit, the cat glanced up to see the older Mobian once more in full control of herself, "I don't see you scrabbling up many trees, not all that many left that could stand the extra tonnage".

"Aunt Peg!" Recovering her tongue and fashioning it with a razor edge, Mighty lashed at her elderly aunt, "no need for that".

"True enough, he must have figured that out before now already". Withdrawing her impromptu weapon, the armadillo let the tip of her walking stick sink to the floor, the metal button on the end of it tapping the bare flagstones in a rhythm that set on edge the teeth of everyone who was listening in, eyeing the cat cunningly,

"So then, what brings you to this cold coven up north of the border young cat? Free board and lodgings is it, another scrounger come to suck the milk of Mobian kindness out of us all?" _Yeah, like you had any of that to start with_;

"Not in the slightest", Big replied with a faintly haughty tone, "Mighty, or Michelle if you prefer, was kind enough to invite me and, I ask you, what right-minded gentleman could possibly refuse?" Something flashed through the oldster's eye but was gone before the cat could get a clear look; however the corners of her lips curled upwards and Big deduced he'd said the right thing,

"Well said, well enough said; I like a Mobian who knows his place and his manners", Peg conceded before leaning forwards once more, back onto the attack, "and a Mobian who can survive a trip up here with my great-niece's other half badgering them the whole may must certainly be that". _Wow, not an attack on me then_; grateful for the reprieve, the cat smiled in kind as support arrived from a rather unexpected quarter. Having finally disentangled herself from bidding her youngest brother goodbye, Emily stepped in to finally make some belated introductions,

"Whew, sorry about that, little Jess was just starting to wake up as they were halfway out the hall", she said quickly by way of explanation before turning to where one of her more favoured relatives sat waiting for her words, "Big, this is Peggy my great-aunt; Peggy, this is Big, Mighty's partner for…oh how long is it now?" Mighty grinned, leaning against the huge cat's rich, warm coat with every intention of enjoying the sensation with her crusty great-great aunt watching on with pursed, faintly disproving lips,

"Not long enough but I'm working on it"; Big chuckled in kind, taking a few seconds out to wrap one hand around to the armadillo's shoulder before addressing Peggy again,

"Emily's great-aunt?"

"That's what she said isn't it?" Big nodded, made up his mind before deciding he had nothing to lose and acting on his initiative,

"Not married to Reuben by any chance I suppose?"

Surprise supernovaed in the great-aunt's eye and Big merely stood back, not needing to press his advantage as he knew he'd landed a punch she'd never seen coming; she was still pulling herself together, in fact, when Emily stepped in once more, aware of how Big knew that nugget of information and determined to minimise prickliness on all sides at least for tonight,

"Yep, that she is; any idea what time he'll be rolling in…?"

"As much as I usually get; how long is it 'til chucking-out time? I'll be down here 'til Wull goes and fishes him out of whatever dyke he's managed to fall into this time, then I'll drag him upstairs just so he can go through the same thing tomorrow. I swear the day I wake up earlier than he does will be the day he gets it all back, all the late night inconvenience and apologies with interest; Millie you made a fine choice in one regard – if nothing else he's tee-total". _Fine choice?!_; if nothing else Big was grateful everyone else was as stunned and silent as he felt – Stefan was a fine choice in nobody's book, least of all his own. The unearthed frustration that had been bottled up within him over the course of the whole day reared, ready to strike and inject the venom Stefan had gifted to it over the course of a long, tiring and ultimately stressful day; a shove in his side upset his momentum, catching him unawares and unsettling his strike. Mighty's voice was in his ear, the music soothing the savage beast in his breast and he let himself be led away, not dropping eyes with the strange old lady until she turned back in her seat away from him, a mysterious half-smile on her lips as though she knew some great secret he was in the dark about,

"As I said, moving swiftly on"; _that was close, we were both about ready to blow_; thinking on her feet Mighty got them both out of the danger zone, more grateful than even her expression let on when she realised Big was walking with her rather than struggling to stay behind and slug it out with her cantankerous great-great-aunt, "plenty more to see here Big guy, including some who actually do have something resembling a sense of humour…"

Peggy was forgotten for the moment at least; at some point the faces and voices merely blended into one, even his prodigious mind and memory overwhelmed by the new sights, sounds and people her shook hands with and introduced himself to. He needed time and space to put up the borders of separation between one armadillo and another, even though he was sure a couple of other species had sneaked in there somehow; he retreated into the sanctity of smiling and nodding in turn, letting his unforgettable memory jot down the names, knowing he'd filter them all out into order later when he had time and space to breathe again.

XXX

It wasn't like she hadn't been expecting this overall – heck, considering what had happened to everyone else who'd joined her over the course of this celebration over the years he'd done remarkably well. However, as was only natural in the end he'd reached a saturation point; one person could only soak up so much before it all began to flow around them, the rest of the knowledge lost until they could rest for a minute and take time out to get their head around everything they'd just seen and tried to take in. Flitting her gaze sideways the armadillo felt a quirky smile on her lips; _when was the last time I'd seen him ever look really exhausted? Never physically, he's really fit, and not just in that sense either_; crushing those thoughts before they could become perhaps a little too over-adventurous, she retook her seat on her train of thought; _so he doesn't get tired much. But this is different, mentally he's strung out – too many people too close together, not used to it coming from the back end of beyond where the only time he ever really bumped into people was when he was quite literally pulling them out of places they shouldn't have been getting into in the first place!_

"Well, once you said it was good the rest of my pride was looking so well", fortunately his voice came just as she reached the tail end of her thoughts and she was able to listen in and smile in response to his haggard grin, "my turn to give the compliment back I see".

"Something like that, anyway you haven't seen the half of them yet mate", the armadillo couldn't help but chuckle at the shudder he gave at that declaration, though she did mollify such a comment with an affectionate tap on the arm, "don't worry though, most of them won't get here 'til tomorrow, and I've got my own plans for you for most of the day anyway". Big's nearest eyebrow raised, the corner of his lip twitching up enough to betray a hint of pearly canine,

"Oh is that so?"

"Dream on"; _and I will as much as you do_; "what sort of things you were thinking I daren't even try to guess but my idea was we get you all set up with Reuben; day up on the loch with a rod in your hand, just the ticket and ready for the night, when most of the others will be back here waiting for you. Don't worry though; I promise it won't be quite as hectic as it was tonight – there were a few more of mum's immediate family around than we thought might have made it by now; we were expecting Uncle Sam and Aunt Paula but Gavin managing to haul his tail up here so fast has got to be a record".

"That good? Hey, why no 'Uncle Gavin'?"

"Because it says it makes him sound older than he really is", Mighty snorted before giving a laugh, "good old Gav, still as delusional as ever; if anything calling him uncle's a compliment; you know how much older he is compared to mum?"

"Stop", the cat held up a hand and shook his head, "something tells me I'd be better off not knowing".

"Maybe, but I'm sure Derek will fill you anyway. Anyway, know where you're going?" Mighty pointed off down the corridor that stretched away down the landing off to their right, at the head of the stairs they'd just ascended as they'd left Emily downstairs where the flame of reunion was still burning brightly into the night, "just down there somewhere; what number are you?"

"Does it matter; I reckon the pile of bags just outside the door aught to give it away somewhat". _Ah, I'd forgotten about that – cheers dad_; once more silently swearing to herself that the time for vengeance was nearing Mighty merely steeled herself to carry on as best she could in the circumstances,

"I can only apologise for his behaviour, and I can't even do that very well since I know he'd never say sorry himself; I just hope everyone else makes up for him acting the sod for the next week and a bit". One of Big's huge paws slapped over his face; despite it's huge size it barely managed to cover the girth of the grin that had suddenly bloomed all over his face,

"Michelle, Michelle", normally she'd have taken offence at her full name but with Big she just couldn't do it; she merely stood and faced him as her own grim began to creep its way into view, the expression only encouraged as one of his paws settled on her shoulder and suddenly tugged her fully forwards into him, "come on, every single one of the guys down there – no wonder old iron-heart couldn't bear to be around them, he daren't run the risk of them giving him rust".

"Something along those lines", the reply came from somewhere around his midriff, the two Mobians continuing their embrace for a brief, sweet second longer before they broke apart for the night, both flushed from the close contact and seemingly at a loss for a way to bring the evening to a close, neither wanting to be apart from the other. Eventually, not a word spoken between them, Mighty slid one foot backwards down the hallway she needed to go down to find her room, Big did likewise down his own; both shared a last departing wave before, reluctantly, turning away and heading for bed.

XXX

Already prodigious by any stretch of the imagination, Big's mind had been parcelling and packaging up the information it had needed to differentiate between each of the armadillos he had seen downstairs; _and the mink as well, or was she, or even he, a mongoose – didn't get a good view, but then I don't suppose it matters, I'll see them both again tomorrow I shouldn't wonder. Still at least I got it right that there was another species around, at least I'm not completely on my own, not with Paula and this other one about, and a couple of others apparently arriving tomorrow. Speaking of Paula_; Big chuckled, there was a girl who looked like she knew how to wear the trousers in a relationship; _and Gavin as well come to that – a couple of cards the pair of them. Just as well really, my worst nightmare would have been a whole barn full of Stefan-clones – urgh, that would have done it in for Luke Skywalker – not so much Star Wars as Star-Bores-You-To-Death._ That was a relief and then some; Big chuckled as he fondly imagined Stefan in a galaxy far, far away rather than having to share space in the one he and his daughter were currently occupying; somehow he could just see the infamous black mask peeling upwards at the very end to reveal, not a half-dead anaemic human but an armadillo with a serious personality disorder…hey, where was he now?

The sudden question broke into his happy day-dream; taking a look around to re-orientate himself, the cat stole up to the nearest door to see the number, then gave a small grunt of surprise as he compared it to the one of the ring of the key Rebekka had present him with. _Room 7, but this is 14_; a few seconds of brainwork confirmed the latter part of his thought almost before he'd fully formed it in his mind; _I never walked past any bags, I'd have noticed them. Oh is he's left them outside…_; though even he had to admit it was unlike that even Stefan would be that anti-social, the threat was there as the cat retraced his steps to find himself outside the door to his room for the night, the front of it conspicuous by a distinct lack of abandoned luggage piled up before it. _Hmm, this could be awkward…_; already it seemed like someone he didn't know at all had done him a favour; that was a nice turn up for the books; _…oh well, not going to find out standing out here on the doorstep with my cap in my hand am I?_

"Ahem", the cat cleared his throat loudly at the same time as rap on the door; not wanting to run the risk of bursting in at an embarrassing moment for his temporary room mate, Big thought it prudent to introduce himself, "all clear in there?" He stooped to listen for any reply; he reached for the handle himself as there was no reply forthcoming, then forestalled his hand as, faintly, a thin, piping voice came through the door towards him,

"You Big? Bekka said Mighty was bringing someone with her this year".

"Yep, that's me; mind if I…"

"Nah, come on in; I brought your bags in when I heard his Royal Highness dump them outside, useless pain in the tail he always is". Big laughed as he nosed the door open and let himself in,

"Now that I do agree with; pleasure to meet you…Derek?"

Originally the cat was a little confused; despite the two beds he could say made up at ninety degrees to each other and the voice he had definitely head giving him leave to enter this sanctum, there was no-one in here with him, at least not that he could see to start with. However a second later and the mystery was cleared up; the light for the left of him was eclipsed and then shut off as the person in the bathroom moved to the door and then moved his hand to switch the light off completely; for a second both stood in darkness before Big, recalling the position of the light switch before being plunged into darkness, whipped his hand out to trigger the light in the main bedding area of the suite.

"Nice one", the same soft voice reached his ears as he blinked away his blindness at the sudden light, allowing him to get his first look at the Mobian addressing him, "she said were you were Big, never got around to mentioning you were a cat though. You don't snore do you?"

"Not to my knowledge", the cat replied before he could recover from being slightly unbalanced by the quick query, "I live on my own though, so that might not count for a lot".

"Sound, sound; put it like this, if you don't wake tomorrow take it from me you do", there was a snicker from Derek, the armadillo leaning against one of the bathroom door jambs to regard Big from a slightly better angle, "had enough of that bunking down with dear old Grandpa last year, enough noise to wake the dead".

"Just as long as he'd wake me after you were though throttling me", the cat quipped back, finally managing to bring his vision fully back on line and training it onto where this latest addition to Mighty's extended family was stood waiting for him.

His first thought, confused as he was by blinking away the after-images of the light switching on, was that the blocky black shadow in front of him was actually an illusion; no way were there two Stefans in the world! _No_; finally banishing the last of the confusing shadow from his vision, Big found his answer with a sigh of relief; _there aren't, and just as well too_. Having said that though, Derek did share a couple of characteristics with his least-favoured uncle; much like the grey-shelled armadillo that had so unceremoniously parted ways from him not two or so hours ago, this younger specimen looked oddly tall for his stature, his limbs appearing to extend to unnatural lengths from his body. Thankfully though his shell, what little Big could actually see of it from this frontal view and taking into account the baggy jeans the armadillo wore, was thankfully the same uniform black as the rest of his family's were. For a second both Mobians stood where they were sizing each other up; the silence stretched for a moment until Big screwed up his courage enough to make the first overtures towards a conversation,

"So", he hesitated for a split-second; surely his voice had never been that loud before, "you and your dad got here today?"

"Yeah, he was determined to get one up on my aunt", Derek gave a snicker, the expression making his peculiarly narrow face seem bisected for a second before he smiled again and finished his answer, his eyes never wavering in their guess – in the gloom cast by the hood of his shell, Big had no way of telling what colour they were, "nobody, but nobody, ever beats Gavin Armadillo eight times in a row".

"So I take it, he seemed like a competitive type", Big nodded wistfully; he would have spoken again but to his surprise the armadillo cut across him,

"You bet he is; has he had his traditional flare-up with you-know-who recently or has that been put back 'til later in the proceedings?" _Hmm, better phrase this right_; trying to judge the prudent thing to say, Big guessed from what Derek had told him so far that his original suspicions had been confirmed; _Gavin and Stefan don't rub shoulders well, he must know that – hmm, stick with the truth, just dampen it down a touch_;

"Not quite yet", the cat drawled slowly, half an eye on Derek's face, seeing the reaction his words were drawing from the armadillo's stolid features, "I mean they looked about ready to go there and then but Emily broke them up before anything could really get going". There was a shuffle as the Mobian opposite him pushed off the door frame he'd been leaning against, a strange half-smile on his lips as he craned his neck up to look plainly into Big's waiting face,

"Shame, she's always spoiling a good party. If I were her I'd retire to a safe distance, tell them to keep it all above the belt and just let them go – dad is never going to see eye to eye with Stefan come hell or high water. He's told him more than once that one day he'll reap what he's sown, whatever that means – nothing to do with me though".

"I take it you stay out the way?"

"Too right; it's not my fight. If they want to act like a pair of tail-enders and try to ruin everything for the rest of us I say just let them get on with it, they're not going to change".

"Smart move", Big commented; _now was that a nod or was there something bothering him?_; not sure of the reasons behind the Derek's sudden inclination of his head, the cat wisely held his peace and let the other Mobian take the lead,

"I like to think so; anyway, get unpacked", following the sudden point Big finally noticed the pile of bags at the foot of the bed furthest from the window, dragged and dumped there by his roommate for the evening, "dunno about you but I'm looking to turn in soon; the nights draw in fast around here and you've got to be down early tomorrow to get a decent measure of porridge for breakfast".

"Fair enough, you go ahead", stepping back a touch the cat politely gestured for the armadillo to approach his bunk first, "I'm just unpacking then hitting the hay; don't mind me if you want a bit of extra shut-eye". Once more Derek nodded and began to move, his seemingly overlong legs giving him a more loping stride than most of the other armadillos Big had ever seen, easily eating up the distance towards where his bed for the night lay. Big was about to follow him, had one foot raised ready to signal his advance towards the luggage pile awaiting him; with a crash that probably shook spiders off the ceiling of the room below, that same foot slammed home onto the carpet once more, Big's normally impeccable manners for once overridden by the sight that awaited him as Derek moved past him, exposing the back of his bare shell.

As far as Big was aware, going on what he'd observed so far the shells of his girlfriend's species were supposed to be made up of relatively smooth, overlapping plates of a hard, bone-like material that ranged in colour from an almost pearly white to a much more common matt black. Though he was the first to admit to being no expert in the subject, the cat was relatively sure that the shells were not meant to look like the armadillo enclosed by it had taken a run through a shower of particularly potent acid, even if the effect was rather curiously easy on the eye. _Hang about_; just as that realisation seeped into his mind Big forced himself to take a closer look, cocking his head as he tried to picture the strange irregularities imprinted into Derek's shell; _the more you look at it – could that be some kind of writing?_

"Derek?" He looked over his shoulder as much as he was able to, the movement spinning him around a little as, unlike most other Mobians, armadillos didn't have full freedom to move their heads as their shells impeded such freedom of movement,

"Yeah, what's up?"

"What's on your back, and don't say a shell", just in the nick of time he avoided that potential punch-line; _Mighty got it in once – sorry mate but I really don't fall for the same trick twice_; "is that art of some sort; I mean I hope you've not had an accident or anything but the effect's pretty neat whatever it was".

"Cheers", a smile touched his lips, the expression genuine enough but a little…unsettling; was that the right word to use? Big found himself asking that question as he tried to keep his own face purposefully neutral; Derek's lips had moved but, from where he was standing at least, it seemed that nothing had moved on the rest of his face, his eyes especially still seemingly locked onto him, nothing about them having changed in any way as he continued, "not many of the rest of them appreciate it; cost half a grand just to get a pro job this big, and it's not even done yet".

"That so; beats getting a tattoo I guess", Big offered by way of explanation as he finally headed towards the pile of bags that were still waiting for him; not having a lot of time for body art himself, the cat was having to go off intuition and hope he was saying the right things, "what language is it; Chinese?"

"Close, Japanese", Derek vaulted onto his bed, spinning as he sat down to regard the cat cross-legged, "spent a few years over there, gap year sort of thing; really nice place and I mean that, really nice place, and the people as well, first class all the way. Anyway, like you said I never wanted to face up to the needle and ink, so I decided to try something a bit different and it worked out all right, if a touch pricey".

"How so? What did they use, just a straightforward sanding tool".

"No way; I'd have never been able to sit through that", the armadillo shook his head vigorously, shifting around on his seat as though tormented by the cat's words alone, "just put a different kind of bit on the end of his normal drill; believe me if he'd even tried anything more than that my back would have ended up as crazy paving".

"I thought you shells were all nerveless; at least, Mighty never reacts when you tap her on the back".

"They are but the skin under them isn't – if anything that's super-sensitive; put it like this", Big could only assume the armadillo had seen his slightly nonplussed look as Derek made to spell it out for him, "ever touched your tooth with the tip of an electric toothbrush, right down near the gums?"

"Ah, now that you mention it, once or twice", already reliving the experience in his mind Big's shudder was in no way theatrical as he reached down to hoist the first of his bags onto his bed, "not good; I guess that's why it's costing, it must be taking ages just to get a little bit done".

"Something like that", Derek chuckled, once more the emotion not really lighting up his eyes, "you know it's going to be a big job when you realise you're on first name terms with your tattooist, his receptionist and most of the other regulars too".

"But it'll be worth it when it's done", Big judged solemnly, craning his neck to try and sneak another glance, "what is it anyway, or what's it going to be when it's done should I say?" Derek didn't answer immediately, more concerned with checking the top drawer of the cabinet next to his bed that paying strict attention to the words of his cousin's boyfriend. Apparently satisfied, he snapped the drawer closed with a knock and turned back to Big once more,

"Old Japanese proverb in traditional characters", he drawled, trying and not quite managing to keep all the pride out of his voice as he quoted his source, "'good friends are like good health; the importance of either is unrecognised until it is lost'. A bit wordy maybe but I reckon it works".

"Especially because it's true", mulling it over in his mind, Big realised just how true it actually was a second later, giving a whistle and shrugging; _boy were those old philosophers worth their salt and then some_; "just one of those things you don't think about until it's too late in the day". Derek chuckled again softly, this time pointing at the jumble of parcels Big had yet to make a start on unpacking,

"Tell me about it; now turn your mind to thinking about that lot before it gets too late in the day for me to have a half-decent kip!"

Suitable galvanised into action, not more than ten minutes later the last of his personal items were packed away and Big sat down on his own bed with a grateful sigh, the old mattress sinking under his weight but the entire contraption bearing up to handling his load most admirably overall. Settling back further, the cat swung his feet ponderously upwards to join the rest of him, kicking off his shoes carelessly as he did so; just as he heard his last two remaining articles of clothing thunk down onto the floor, he heard Derek's soft voice hailing him from the side,

"Sure that'll be enough for you mate?" Still sitting cross-legged on his own bed, the armadillo peered across the room and smiled indulgently as the cat turned his head to see him, "if I were you I'd pull the blankets onto the floor and bed down there for the night; less likely of getting a rude awakening sometime around midnight that way". _And someone else decides they want to take a crack at my waistline_; Big raised an eyebrow, just working out how to phrase his next query; _well then, let's see if the rest of Mighty's family are as off the cuff as she is when the ball's in her court_;

"Are you insinuating…?"

"No, believe me you'd know if I was insinuating anything", Derek gave his soft snicker again, rubbing one of his ears as he did so, "someone else around here, Emily more likely than not, would be giving me a clip upside the head if I was insinuating anything".

"Why's that – in fact don't answer that", Big decided in a second, seeing in his mind's eye Sonic again forced up onto his tip-toes as his lightning tongue landed him in hot water that even his light-speed body couldn't quite escape from, Mighty making her displeasure at his joke all too obvious, "been there and seen why; you can't be as bad as all that surely?"

"I don't think so, some of the others think otherwise and a lot of them don't think at all as far as I can work out", shuffling over, Derek reached up to unlatch the window next to his bed before pulling open the draw he'd fiddled about with earlier. _What about if it snows at night?_; maybe the armadillo got very warm at night but if that was so surely there must have been a better way to cool down; _last thing I want to do is end up pulling him out a snowdrift first thing in the morning_. Not quite sure if he was getting the right end of the stick this time around Big was just about the broach the subject before Derek gave a grunt of triumph and pulled his hand free of the drawer, a bright blue and white packet clenched in his fist,

"Ah there we go; do you mind?" Big shook his head, waving away his question as though it were a plague of mosquitoes,

"Oh no go ahead; I was about to ask why you had the window open"; he needed to say no more as Derek flipped open the lid of his cigarette packet and dipped his head, prising one of the cigarettes inside free with his teeth and speaking around it as he finished the cat's statement,

"Yeah I know it's illegal but what no-one knows won't hurt them – got some stuff in my bag that'll kill the smell in the morning. You?" Once more Big waved away the query, shaking his head as the armadillo offered the packet his way,

"Nah, not for me ta. Tried them once when I was younger, didn't like them and left it at that".

"Good lad", the tip of Derek's shell dipped a fraction both in deference to the cat's attitude and to enable him to see and pull his lighter out of the packet; there was a brief flicker of flame as he lit up, followed by more orange, smouldering glow from the cherry of his cigarette as he took his first drag, "I aught to quit, maybe one of these days I'll get around to it". He exhaled slowly out of the window he'd opened, eyes closed as he enjoyed the nicotine hit for a second, though he looked around as he heard Big speak again, the cat rolling over and propping himself up on one elbow as he spoke,

"Derek, you're older than Mighty right?"

"Yeah, there's about five years between us, four or five anyway", he replied with a shrug, obviously not considering differences in age important, "I know there's less between us than there is between my dad and her mum; dad's got a good seven years on Aunt Emily at least. You're the eldest of your family aren't you?"

"Yeah, got a set of twins under me…"

"Lucky guy"; _I'll pretend I didn't get what you meant by that_;

"…and they're both three years younger", Big finished boldly at the same time as try very hard not to concentrate on the images Derek's inflections had set loose in his mind, "you got any more, brothers and sisters", he amended smoothly before the armadillo could put into words the glint the cat had spotted in his eye. _Just in time_; Big congratulated himself on his fortunate escape; _clip around the ears – Em I think you were being a bit generous there_;

"Nah, only one of me, just as well most of the family would say", he gave another chuckle as he took another drag; when he'd finished exhaling he carried on, "not much chance of a second one either, not now mum and dad have gone their separate ways; what, dad didn't tell you?"

It wasn't the matter-of-fact tone in which the armadillo spoke, or the blindingly obvious fact that he didn't consider the knowledge his parents had separated as important, or even that he was able to speak of such thing with a virtual stranger with such candour that shocked the cat; no, it was more a combination of these things that made Big's jaw drop. Hastily trying to pull himself back together, he tried to concentrate on damage limitation,

"No, he…err, that's to say, it didn't crop up downstairs. I'm sorry to hear it though".

"Don't be, I say I was lucky, in fact all of us were; compared to some of the horror stories you read in the rags it was amicable. They just fell out of love, and I was old enough to know what was going on", Derek looked up at the ceiling and Big was grateful for that; he doubted he'd have been able to hold the armadillo's gaze had he looked at him directly, "mum's got another man now, we get on okay; I stay with them most of the time but dad made sure it was in the deal that he had me over Christmas for this. I don't thing mum argued at all, she loved it here".

"And why not?" His voice wasn't as loud or as strong as he'd have liked to be but Big pressed on regardless, "I've not been here long but I love it already".

"Good", the armadillo looked down at him again, taking a last puff on his virtually spent cigarette before crushing it out in the ashtray he'd set up at a convenient arm's length from the bed, his last statement barely heard over the thump of the window as he closed it, "'cause I've got a feeling this is going to be the first of many times for you. Anyway, 'night". Before Big could try to answer there was a ruffling noise from the darkness next to his bed as the armadillo burrowed into the warm covers and bunked down for the night, oblivious to the thoughts of anything else other than his own need for sleep. _Now if only I could do that_; even as the thought crossed his mind and he made to turn in himself, Big knew by experience that Derek's last words were going to be ones that would keep him awake as he mulled them over and over in his mind.

Eventually, however, sleep was not to be denied and two sets of sonorous snuffles began percolating through the door of the twin bedroom.

XXX

Blinking his eyes open at a slightly more measured pace than he'd managed the previous morning, Big took a second to remember exactly where he was and why he could hear a set of wheezing snores from somewhere nearby. Giving himself enough time for a leisurely blink, the cat slowly dragged the covers off his over-large body and brought himself slowly to his feet, exquisitely careful in his movements as so not to awaken Derek as the armadillo dreamed on. _Hypocrite_; recalling Paula's somewhat unflattering description of her partner Big couldn't stop a smile spreading over his lips as he beheld his roommate still slumbered on, rhythmic snores penetrating the noiseless environment of the room around him; _all that talk about getting rid of me if I dared to snore at all._ Still it wasn't all that important in the end; he wasn't going to be around much longer as his stomach was demanding sustenance – tip-toeing towards the door and reasoning he could have a shower after breakfast when Derek was awake, Big carefully let himself out and quietly shut the door behind him. Letting out a low breath as the lock clicked into place behind him and he heard the armadillo's snoring continue unabated, the cat realised he was free and able to concentrate on getting some food down him. Wondering who else would be around at this time, he headed towards where the stairs led downstairs towards the main hall of the Highland Steppes, stopping only when pain exploded at the front of him as someone ran headlong into him and then bounced off, landing at his feet with a clatter.

_Huh?_; fighting off the sudden burst of adrenaline flooding his system, Big looked across from himself, then corrected himself and looked down, hoping to go to the aid of whoever he'd knocked onto their back. Such aid, it turned out, was superfluous to requirement; with a slight rocking motion, the armadillo kicked back up to his feet, paused for a fraction to scoop a brightly coloured something up from where it had fallen beside him and glared at the unexpected obstacle he'd come up against,

"Who're you?"

_Now this is new_; and it was – Big wasn't quite able to stop himself shaking with suppressed laughter as the full absurdity of the scene it was involved in sank through his mind; he was being held to ransom by someone who just about reached the buckle of his wide belt and couldn't be any older than ten at the most. Settling onto his back foot and meeting the furious glare of the juvenile armadillo with an impassive stare, Big merely replied to his miniature accuser in a maddeningly irksome tone,

"My name, beings as you asked for it in such a respectful yet robust manner, is Big; don't tell me, you're called Cheeky". _Definitely got a temper this one_; apparently going against the grain of most of the family he'd met so far, the young armadillo seemed to balloon with ire and folded his arms thunderously,

"No I'm not, I'm Roddy; you're in the way".

"And I still say you're cheeky", the cat countered; while the armadillo was still stunned by the insouciance in his comeback he launched his own attack, "anyway, why can't you just go round me; it's not like I'm particularly difficult to see coming is it?" Roddy's mouth worked for a couple of seconds, Big could almost see him trying to fit all his childish indignation into simple words and floundering to do so – he was about to call the contest even and step aside when his opponent managed to wrestle out his words and glare at his opponent again, unfolding his arms as he did so and giving the cat his best evil look as he did so,

"Move it fatso, I can move you; I'm the strongest armadillo ever, even stronger than Mighty; I'll show you!"

"Oh you will, will you? Okay tough guy", sinking onto one knee, Big held up his closest hand, a barrier impeding Roddy's progress, "get through this then will you?" The armadillo needed no second invitation; plunging forwards with a high-pitched battle yell, he flung himself forwards, both his tiny fists hammering home on the cat's colossal paw and driving forwards. _Wow, he really must be another Mighty_; though it was an impolite thing to say out loud, Big realised the child shared his girlfriends' enhanced strength, the combination of recessive genes making him a throwback and granting him strength far beyond that of normal Mobians of comparable stature. Unfortunately for Roddy, however, he was in a contest with someone who was definitely not of comparable size to him; no matter how hard he strained, Big was able to hold his ground in his knelt position and continue playing his role of the immovable object until;_ …now!_

As the cat suddenly twisted his wrist Roddy gave a shout of triumph as he surged forwards through the larger Mobian's defences; that shout curdled to terror a split-second later, however, as Big unleashed his skilfully measured counter-offensive. Rather than simply letting the armadillo through, his hand had twisted downwards, under Roddy's bunched fists and onto the softer tissue of his stomach – as the armadillo stormed forwards he slammed into this unexpected barrier and was stopped dead. Grinning wickedly, Big gave a push of his own and, completely unbalanced, his opponent was sent sprawling onto his back; as he lay stunned his much larger opponent made a snatch and then stood up to his full height.

"Well then", chuckling as Roddy's inverted eyes blinked in stupefied confusion, the cat shook his arm somewhat, the armadillo dangling from his fist quite literally left swinging in the breeze as his vanquisher drawled, "this puts a bit of a different angle on things doesn't it Cheeky".

"Wha'…I; put me down", finally aware of his change in circumstance, Roddy began lashing out towards where the cat stood grinning at his plight; when it became obvious that strategy wasn't going to work due to the discrepancy in the length of his arms compared to Big's, he tried to curl up and pry the cats' fingers apart where they had his ankle snared. Feeling it would be prudent to halt this idea before Roddy could get any real impetus behind it, Big cleared his throat and shook again, dislodging the young armadillo for his hand-hold in the fur of his arm,

"Put you down?" He gave a very pointed look towards the floor, hoping his opponent would get the hint, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah", apparently not quite understanding the full implications of his plight Roddy once again busied himself with trying to rip himself loose of the cat's hold, "let go! AAahhhh!"

It wasn't in Big heart to really hurt someone who was in no position to defend themselves at all; however, Roddy's obnoxious attitude so far had strained his tolerance enough to suggest that a sudden short, sharp, shock to the system wouldn't do him too much harm. At the rebellious child's shrieked command he dropped his knees and arm simultaneously and ominously; the armadillo gave a gargled yell as the floor swelled in his vision, fear pounding in his heart until Big stopped and stood up as suddenly as he'd stooped, the face of his captive as white with shock as it had been ruddy with indignation a spilt-second earlier.

"Well you did insist", the cat began coyly before turning more serious, noticing for the first time something like respect beginning to dawn in Roddy's eyes, "now are you going to ask politely for me to turn you loose or am I going to stand here all day playing armadillo yo-yo – oh…", finally noticing someone else in the background as Roddy swung from his fist, Big gave a sudden swallow as he realised just what a spectacle to two of them must have made as he said the first semi-sensible thing that popped into his head,

"…this one yours?"

For a second he feared the worst; he'd swear before any jury it had all been in the name of fun and games but who did he have as a witness for that? If this went all the way he'd be looking at far worse than a slap on the wrist, or even a suspension by the toes; he'd be rubbing shoulders with Dr Eggman before you could say Jack Robinson. Then the stranger smiled and he sagged, relieved that this wasn't going to be taken the wrong way at all as she gave a world-weary sigh and set her sights firmly on the shell of the armadillo the cat still held aloft, currently trying to twist around enough to see who his captor had been addressing,

"Unfortunately yes", she mentioned before setting a stern glare at the back of the youngster Big guessed was either her son or her nephew, "Roderick Armadillo, have been annoying this Mobian?" As Roddy's face crumpled in recognition of the voice and resignation to the punishment that was sure to be heading his way, Big felt his heart moved just enough to make a plea for clemency,

"Well I wouldn't have called it annoying exactly", he said, his free hand fingering his lips as though trying to sum something up in his head, "cheeky maybe; annoying, nah, not really". The as-yet unnamed armadillo shook her head as much as she was able to and looked at him directly over the soles of her relatives' sports trainers,

"Now why does that sound familiar? Would you mind…?" As she jerked her eyes towards the floor Big nodded and began to lower his arm, "…I imagine he must be getting purple in the face by now and he wasn't all that pretty in the summer when he told me he didn't need to put the sun cream on and ended up red as a tomato".

"Ouch"; Big snickered as he set the armadillo on the floor gently, the smaller Mobian rocking on his shell for a minute and staring at the ceiling above him; after a minute though, he managed to pull himself together and begin to sit up, the brightly-coloured object still clutched tightly in his hand as he finally made it to his feet and gave a shaky wave at where his elder and better stood looking disproving,

"Hi mum"; _thought so_; Roddy's words confirmed what he'd thought all along but not dared put into words in case he was proved wrong, "get the room set up; I don't have to share do I?"

"Not any more after this performance; I've a good mind to set you up in a tent outside", striding forwards, she grabbed his arm and gave a vigorous shake, "I've turned this hostel upside-down, inside-out and back-to-front looking for you! Where have you been?"

"Just", there was a sniffle in her son's voice as he quaked under his mother's wrathful Look, "just looking for Big-D; I didn't want to get in the way…"

"Or help unpacking the car at all", his mother snarled before finally softening, shaking her head at her little boy's disappearing act, "come on, your dad's worried sick and you've got your unpacking to do before you can buzz around looking for anyone else. If you dare run off again like that all the time we're here I swear you won't come next year, I'll leave you with my Nanas".

"No way", immediately falling into step Roddy transformed into a paragon of model behaviour, "I'm sorry mum, I just…"

"I know, I was just like you when I was your age. Anyway, say thank you", Big inclined his head and raised a hand as Roddy, face downcast, shuffled around and waved his free arm awkwardly, the toy car a bright flash of red against his off-white glove as his mother looked Big in the face, "and thanks from me too; you know how it is, turn your back for a second and they're gone before you can blink".

"Too right; go on tough guy", Roddy dared to glance up, seeming to brighten as Big smiled gruffly and winked at him, "I'll see you again later; you're coming for something to eat right, you look hungry".

"Had to drive through the night to get here", his mother remarked off-handedly, stifling a yawn with her free hand before finishing, "I'll just get this runaway back where he belongs and get the rest of them organised, then we'll get something to eat – see you at the breakfast table, hopefully we'll have time for a proper introduction then. Come on you, home, and don't pull", she added as an afterthought, her son immediately haring on ahead and attempting to drag her along by the hand he still had hold of, "you better tell dad what happened, and believe me you think I'm upset you haven't seen him yet".

"I'll, er, I'll say I was, I was looking, ah, looking for…a...the Loch Ness monster!"

"Looking for…right…"; _gotta love kids_; Big shook his head as the pair of shells disappeared around the corner, leaving him behind as he watched them depart, lost in thought for a minute; _she can't really blame him, he's excited and it's the run up to Christmas_; that truth sent a warm tingle up his back as he realised that was very true – the big day was barely a week away; _I reckon she'd have more cause for concern if he wasn't bouncing around with excitement – this time to the year, especially if you're surrounded with your family you really love_; the cat thought back to his own family for a minute, almost seeing his father balanced atop the rickety ladder held in the loft for this occasion and this occasion alone as his sisters decked the halls and tree with holly and tinsel; _must be the best time in the world to be a child again!_

A/N: And he's right – there's no time in the world quite like Christmas when you're knee-high to a Christmas angel! Want to see more of the clan introduced, or a couple of rather more tender moments between the two at the centre of this story; coming next chapter!


	9. Chapter 9 An Otter and a Wildcat

Chapter 9 – An Otter and a Wildcat.

A/N: Once more I can only apologise; I've been really, really busy lately and had a couple of visits that distracted from my writing time. I just hope this chapter makes up for it – get ready to meet some of the rest of Mighty's motley crew! As always, please let me know if the new characters are believable – I've just started writing a book I hope will be published some time in the future and I need to know I've got character development down pat! Before the chapter though, a shout to the reviewers:

BC - Hope you enjoyed your holiday; I can tell you these two are enjoying theirs!

Ri2 - What wrong with them - they're all just a bit excited and why not. For them, it's Christmas!

Fortunately Emily raised a hand to indicate to him where she was and that she had a free seat next to her open; having had rather a busier morning than he'd anticipated, Big was only to grateful to slump down next to her and reach for the menu, his gratitude only increased that Stefan was nowhere to be seen.

"You all right?"

"Yeah, just, er", the cat's eyes slid sideways as he tried to think of the right way to put this, a smile twitching on his lips, "I just had a run in with the roughest, toughest armadillo in the world, or that's what he thinks anyway". Emily's brow furrowed for a minute until the realisation germinated; she looked up chuckling and picked up her glass of orange juice in the same movement, the opaque liquid swirling around in her glass as she winked up at him,

"And I know what that means; pretty soon old Pockets is going to get the shock of his life when he sees you. Roddy still being a little annoyance is he?"

"Yeah, well, nah not really – he's just a kid after all; can't really blame him for being excited can you? Anyway, who's Pockets?"

"Roddy's dad; we all call him Pockets because first he's always got something in them that you shouldn't have in your pockets and secondly because, well, if you call him Percival he tends to get a bit bristly".

"Bet he loves Stefan then", Big winced even as the words popped into his mind, reaching for the large jug of water before looking around, "where is he anyway?"

"Probably out walking somewhere; he always does before breakfast, always has since before I knew him", Emily replied airily; understanding the unspoken message behind her apparently bored tone Big declined to enquire further, instead scanning the menu before him and deciding to go for a just a light meal this early in the day. Scanning around the room as he placed the padded menu back on the table, Big was pleasantly surprised to see a few new faces in the crowd before him, armadillos that he did know and, slightly more comforting from his point a view, a couple of other Mobians as well. Paula was there, chattering away merrily to both her husband and the armadillo on the other side of her who Big didn't know but as well as her, and slightly more curious from the cat's point of view, was someone else he'd glimpsed last night and not quite gotten out of his mind since.

She was sat opposite but off to the right from him, fingering her fork as she waited for breakfast, not quite looking at anyone or anything much and speaking only when spoken to, her violently violet hair cascading down her back at the same time her almost tigerishly-striped orange and blonde fur gave her face a predatory set, one that looked to be at odds with her demeanour in general. Curiosity aroused, the cat looked to the side of him once more and gently brought Emily onside with the merest buffet of his arm,

"Em, who's that?" Following his nod, the armadillo pursed her lips and tapped her fingers together, apparently totting up how much she could tell the cat. She was silent for a good minute or so and Big was on the verge of asking her again as even his placid temper was frayed by her silence until, just before he had to resort of such measures, she gave a slight sight and looked up at him, almost mournful in her expression,

"Her name's Mina Big, that's about all I know about her; she's adopted, comes for a bad background and this is her first time here, bit like you in fact. Bet she's just nervous; she'll perk up in time, there'll be plenty of others her age here later on – everyone who's here now is still early don't forget".

"When do you normally all arrive then? Mighty just said it was whenever you could; is there normally a set date or anything like that?"

"Nah, when you can is about right, though getting here Christmas week is usually a good sign and", Emily rolled her hand forwards, obviously wanting him to cotton onto something, "…what's happening this…?"

"Of course, it's Monday isn't it?" Big answered her question, effortlessly recalling the date as easily as he did anything else, though truth be told his mind was still mostly on the Mobian he'd first seen last night but had been in too poor a state to really react to,

"Bingo", Emily answered for him, either not noticing or pretending not to notice his preoccupation, "the vast majority of the avalanche should be rolling into town sometime tonight, they'll all be here by the time you get back, or at least by the time Reuben lets you go".

"True enough, just waiting for Mighty to get here before we go off and meet her fish-mad…uncle?"

"Great uncle, he was my great-grandmother's nephew so what that makes him to Mighty's anyone's guess. You'd have to check the old tapestry and have a serious degree in genealogy to untangle the web we've woven mate". _Tapestry – didn't Derek mention something like that last night?_;

"Derek mentioned that last night, what actually is it?" Big kept his tone politely curious, easily disguising his half-truth and, to his great relief, Emily took his words at face value and pointed towards the far end of the feasting hall, her tone lowering into something akin to reverence as she spoke next,

"It hangs at the back there Big; please go and look at it but whatever you do don't damage it or take it off the wall. It only comes off once a year on Christmas morning when the new names are sewn on it; Jess will go on there this year, so will Mina too come to that, but apart from that it's just a curiosity really, lets us know who we all are compared to each other, who's who in the general scheme of things if you want to get really technical, and most of the time we just don't bother. Anyone older than you is just your uncle or aunt unless you know for a fact who they are, the same age is a cousin and anyone else if a niece or nephew; we armadillos might be good for a lot of things Big but", she chuckled, her eyes catching the light again and sparkling straight into Big's, "standing on ceremony's never been one of them".

"Funny thing that, Mighty's said pretty much the same thing on a couple of occasions; she reckons that's why she gets on so well in the Chaotix. Anyway, as the waiter seems to have other engagements"; _true enough, he looks rushed off his feet_; looking over at where Wull had come bustling up from the kitchen simply laden down with overflowing plates and bowls, Big decided he had a few minutes to burn before he was going to get served and stood up, his gaze fixed on the back of the eating hall, "I won't be long".

"Want me to get you anything on the off-chance he does get free for a minute?"

"Just some porridge thanks", the cat bobbed his head at Emily's polite offer before carefully picking his way towards where the family tree of his girlfriend was stood, its roots deeply immersed in the soils of its homelands at the same time that its fruits had found themselves fallen into all the lands of the earth and all the walks of life.

XXX

_Hmm_; strangely enough the tableau wasn't the first thing Big noticed as he approached the far wall – it was the small set of steps next to the wall that caught his eye first; _what is it about Scots and ladders – must be the mountains, they're just so used to heights it's second nature to put things in as high a place as they can manage._ The thought made him chuckle a little as he beheld the midnight-black velvet triangle before him, hanging on the wall like a portal into a netherworld of darkness with only a few minor squiggles of light to see by, the intricate silver stitching blinking in the light of the hall like tiny flashing minnows swimming in a pool of water by moonlight. Tall as he was, even Big was forced to crane his neck up to see Mighty's family in its entirely; each individual squiggle of light he had seen from afar becoming more distinct and separate upon closer inspection, the colours themselves separating into two distinct palettes of gold and silver thread. Though he had good eyesight, it wasn't until Big was stood directly in front of the dark triangle that he finally realised just how intricate the entire assembly truly was; _wow!_

Each name was written in gold while the silver was the tool by which these names were linked together, the threads of the spider's web that kept his girlfriend's family united as one. _This is really something, and I bet it's not even half-done yet_; that much was certainly true – as he stood before it he could see that only the top quarter of the black background was anything like thoroughly covered by fold and silver. The rest of it waited below for the trickle of light thread to percolate down and grant it a covering of sliver and gold as new names were brought into the family through either marriage or birth. Scanning down the family tree until he was right near the bottom of the work so far, the cat felt his eye settle on what he'd been searching for – a thin strand of silver connected the names _Stefan Armadillo_ and _Emily Armadillo_; following the thread that fell from the exact centre of where these lines joined, Big felt his heart skip a little, first in easy recognition then in something close to wicked curiosity as he saw the name that awaited him at the bottom: _Michelle K-I Armadillo._

_K-I – is that a double-barrelled name?_; putting his hands on his hips and pursing his lips, the cat sized up the tapestry once more, attempting to decipher the strange meaning of those two new letters in his girlfriends' name; _no, I never asked her – oh well, nothing I can't find out later, no big deal_. All he could do was hope that she wasn't going to be as recalcitrant about divulging extra information about her middle names as a certain blue hedgehog had been – mind you, if what Cream had told him was true, Sonic had had good reason to feel aggrieved given the circumstances his hated middle name had become common knowledge. _Overall, probably a good thing it was Tails who couldn't stop himself opening his mouth_; the cat smiled furtively – though Cream hadn't been present at the event herself she'd heard about it from Tails and the fox better than anyone else was in the best position to judge how well his bombshell had gone down; _at least he had a chance of survival afterwards – if it had been any of the others, except maybe Amy, he'd have marmalised them…what – that can't be right?!_

His gaze had been arrested as it travelled up towards the apex of the triangle; at each entry where the golden names had been stitched through with silver thread, obviously indicating that the name's owner had passed on, Big nodded deferentially in respect of the deceased. However, at the very top of the triangle, the very first armadillo to be installed on the list since Mighty's family had re-established itself in its rightful home, was a single name that shone out proudly still, the thread untouched and untroubled by the silver that had struck through many of the names underneath it. Big's throat ran dry as he hastily counted downwards, working out the distance between the head of the family and where Mighty's name rested; with a disbelieving wheeze and a dull slap as his hand fell limply back to his side, the cat's mind boggled; _four – four generation's distant? How old must she be?_ Once more his fingers traced the space underneath Mighty's name without touching the velvet it was stitched upon, his eyes glued to the younger armadillo's name before they travelled upwards once more, trawling through history as he ascended the family tree. Licking his lips, the cat had to check once again, almost entirely convinced that this time even his memory had let him down; after all, it had only been a quick glance he'd gotten, but no, there was no mistaken. The golden thread was there undimmed, no gossamer webs of silver laying across it like a funeral shroud as it brooded down at him, the matriarch of a vast and healthy family; _one Vanessa, or as it says here_; taking a step back a bit, Big realised that what he'd originally taken to be a middle name was flanked by a pair of almost invisible quotation marks; _'Nessie' Armadillo – hmm, very apt. I wonder…no, that's rude_. It was as well and Big quickly banished the question from his mind, turning his attention back to other things and, having more than assuaged his curiosity, he headed back to where Emily was sat reserving his seat for him.

XXX

"Ah, that's him right now"; _and not just Emily from the sounds of things then_; a grin breaking out all over his face, Big more than returned Mighty's enthusiastic greeting as the armadillo's smile evolved into outright smugness as she turned back to the armadillo that had walked into the hall with her, "now Big, kindly tell this insufferable git that I did not blackmail you, bribe you or drug you into coming with me; you're here because you wanted to be right?"

"Umm, okay", affecting an expression of long-suffering geniality for the moment, the cat let his eyes move over to the stranger Mighty had yet to introduce him to and raised his hand in greeting, "no, I am here, and very happy to be here, entirely of my own will, if not motivation".

"Yes!" Mighty's face exploded in an outburst of utter exultation as she span on her heel and jabbed a finger at her relative, "in your face Per-cee-vill; told you I wasn't making it all up, swore it on a stack of bibles but would you believe me? No, so just you go sit down; Bekka", Mighty's imperious clap deadened the hubbub of the dining hall as she nodded vindictively at the closest waiter, nodding dumbly at her rapid-fire orders, "tell Bekka we need a nice fat wedge of humble pie up here, no need to thaw it out first – after all", she beamed sickeningly and Big had to wonder how the other armadillo had managed to keep his hands in his pockets this long; he would have bet good money that no-one else, least of all any of her workmates or friends, would have put up with provocation of this level in any way, shape or form, "revenge is a dish best served cold isn't it Pockets, with a nice order of mockery steaming on the side. Just what you need for a bit of fixer-upper this early in the morning, don't you agree?"

"Oddly enough, no I don't", Big twitched his ears in curiosity; he might just have got the wrong end of the stick but what he had heard so far had made two thoughts pop up in his mind. The first of these was that Mighty was jeering the armadillo her mother had been describing up until very recently, and the second was that the aforementioned Percival, or Pockets as Emily had mentioned he'd much preferred to be called, had a very glottal voice compared with the rest of his family; _and I'm not entirely sure that's just due to his natural harmonics either_.

"Not when I've been up for most of it, hoping to get here before the annual re-run of Night of the Nearly Dead, at any rate", with a yawn that he only smothered by bringing both hands up to cover his face, Pockets turned towards where Big was still stood waiting for him, Mighty in the background managing to look simultaneously amused by and disproving of his latest comment, "well my friend, just got two questions for you; how much did she pay you and was it worth it?"

_Hmm, now what's it worth?_; his snicker had given the game away – Mighty must have known how close he was to joining in the game with this newest comer to the gathering and had directed all her energy into dissuading him from doing so. Her fearsome scowl would have put a dent in a bank vault but, fatally, she made a chronic mistake when deploying it and switched it off too soon,

"What, how dare you? Mighty never had to even offer any cash for me to sign up to this – if anything I was upset she wouldn't let me go halves for the transport here…"; _and chivalry isn't dead_; together with her knight in shining armour, Mighty relaxed in watching her cousin with the serpent's tongue take a lashing from the pair of them, "…though it has to be said…"; _what?!_; distracted by her daydream, the armadillo looked around once more in time to see the cat lean down towards Pockets, winking at him in a distinctly less than salubrious manner at the same time as raise his eyebrows at her, "…I reckon if I'd held out a bit longer she might have been ready to offer something up to get me motivated".

_Nah, chivalry's not dead, it's just got itself a bit of a tarnish these days_; if looks could have killed Big's mortal remains wouldn't have filled an ashtray, the fire on Mighty's cheeks lancing at him through her eyes and potentially lethal to anyone who dared hold them for a minute, her former Prince Charming right at the head of the hit list at this moment in time. She could only be grateful that his voice had been an awful lot lower than her celebratory crowing had been; if anyone other than Pockets had heard she'd have been very surprised. However, what little relief she'd felt from that small fact fled in the face of another, even more impressively true fact; of all the armadillos that might have heard her boyfriend's comments, it had been Pockets that had done so.

"I like a smart man when I see one; quit while you're ahead", dragging his hands down his face and stopping only to erase another massive yawn from his features, Pockets blinked up at where Big loomed up large before him, apparently squinting through the bags under his eyes as he tried to take most of the cat in at once, "and you are most definitely head and shoulders ahead of most of us here. Percival Armadillo; call me that and I'll have your head mounted up on that back wall over there"; _I would love to see you try_; Big glanced over his shoulder as he accepted the pro-offered hand the armadillo held out for him, glancing at the traditional stuffed stag's head mounted above the old stone fireplace at the far end of the room and…nope, just wasn't going to happen – no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't picture himself taking pride of place on that old brickwork.

"He means it too". As always, Mighty's voice focussed him back on the task in hand once more; with a chuckle, Big returned to his greeting,

"I don't doubt it; Emily filled me in on the secret – Pockets isn't it?" The armadillo raised an eyebrow and Big realised that this time, unlike with Emily, where the differences had been only very subtle, Pockets had a little more than just armadillo blood in his ancestry; _no way on Earth that he'd have whiskers any other way_;

"Too true; Pockets", the armadillo reached into his coat and gave a quick tug, a wizard making something small materialise into the palm of his hand as if by magic, "just like these; sweet?" Looking at the pro-offered toffee, Big felt himself warming to this borderline eccentric a little more even as he realised that just this once he'd have to decline the polite option,

"Ah, not before breakfast; sorry but out of all my family I missed the sweet tooth".

"Ooh, fate worse than death", Pockets grimaced in sympathy as he skilfully unwrapped the toffee itself and flipped it skilfully between his lips, Mighty just over his shoulder shaking her head and mouthing the words 'show-off' to her boyfriend, "never had that problem myself".

"Yeah, it's just the weight issue you've got to get a handle on podge", Mighty stated, muscling back in on the conversation as a couple of her fingers slipped around to prod her cousin in the side, making him jump, "and don't go calling it puppy-fat mate; unless there's such a thing as second puppy-hood that excuse ran out years ago".

"And it ran faster than you could ever manage", he shot back, though his next words more than took the venom out of the cut of his words as he turned to regard his cousin more fully, "though speaking of which, is it true you manage to reconnect yourself with Sonic again?"

"Yep, he's down in Station Square these days; in fact he and a couple of his friends helped me get the job I've got now"; _well, in a way they did – if it hadn't been for Shadow zoning out when he did and a couple of quick phone calls to start the ball rolling…_; fortunately not letting herself get bogged down in the memories of the circumstances surrounding her latest employment, Mighty carried on with her explanation with a barely perceptible pause, "I see him every so often, we keep in touch, oh, and did I tell you someone had finally managed to nail his feet to the floor long enough to hang onto his arm?"

"You're kidding?" Mighty shook her head, gleeful expression back on her face as Pockets blinked in stupefaction, "Sonic, of all the kids I can remember you writing home about; _Sonic!_" He glanced at Big as though for conformation; the cat merely nodded before Mighty made her cousin an offer,

"You bet'ya – Sonic through and through. Anyway, you look like you had a rough night", Pockets favoured her with a 'you said it' sort of expression, "so let's get you sat down and we'll both fill you in then, how's that?"

"Fine but before I sit down, got something to say to you first"; _me, what did…oh yeah, I think I know now_; "cheers for finding my runaway; next time through just drop him on his head. It's about the only way I think we can knock some sense into it; we've tried everything else, God save us". Mighty's shoulders shook as Big had somehow known they would; in the few moments they'd met, the cat had been sure he'd seen something of her in the cheeky armadillo's more youthful face,

"Aww, Roddy still a handful then? What did he get up to this time?" Pockets turned a basilisk glare on her, his already drawn face further twisted by the worry his eldest son had so recently put him through,

"Something you'd have been proud of 'chelle; I swear I glanced around to unpack my smalls, next second there's only one kid standing where there used to be two. Son of a gun he is that child; one of these days I swear I'll…"

"You'll carry on swearing until he's put names of his own on the family tree; you wouldn't lay a hand on him and you know that better than I do", Mighty overrode him, chuckling at that same time as glancing over her shoulder, seeing the unusual trio that had just entered and winking a greeting at the one of them straining at the leash of his parent's hand, "anyway, speak of the little devil and he is bound to appear; what'cher ya little grease-monkey, giving your dad the run-around again".

"Umm", Roddy tried to look innocent and failed spectacularly as his mother, still holding onto his wrist with a grip like a vice, shook her head at the same time as try to dislodge another, even smaller armadillo from around her leg and walk towards where her husband was stood waiting for her, "no, I'm being good".

"Good?" The other member of the family Big had met before voiced her indignation with a snort, glaring down at her wayward son, "Good-for-nothing maybe; now behave yourself". She let go of Roddy's hand her eyes never leaving him as he slowly walked up to his father, deflecting the disproving look in the older armadillo's eyes as he greeted his 'aunt',

"Wh'cher Aunt Mighty; I'm getting better", he struck a pose, a couple of rounded muscles poking up fro m arms only marginally more muscular than Charmy's; _how is she keeping a straight face? Probably about as easily as I am_; Big had to virtually iron his lips shut as the little show-off in front of him squared up to his girlfriend, a match that was if anything even more unequal than the one he'd been involved in earlier in the morning, "soon be ready to give you a taste of your own med'cine".

"Really? Okay", Mighty stooped slightly to rub her hand roughly along the top of his shell, the younger armadillo squeaking and attempting to back up as she did so, the whole experience unbearably yucky for his infantile pride as Mighty approached his mother, "sorry Lianne, going to have to tan his tail one of these times".

"Please be my guest", throwing an arm around her in-law, Big saw the other armadillo's forehead only; she was smaller than even most of the other armadillos present, "at least someone'll have the bottle to do it, unless your friend over there wouldn't mind doing the honours?"

"Who, Big? Sorry Li, going completely off the wrong set of rails there", Mighty took a step back as the cat approached on hearing his voice, a polite nod at his girlfriend mentioning his name, "he's got even less of a hard heart than Pockets has, 'specially with kids. Even those that deserve it"; Roddy jumped from where he'd been making a less-than-flattering gesture behind his mother's back as Mighty glared at him. Suitably introduced, the new armadillo extended her arm and allowed Big to shake her hand, smiling broadly as she did so,

"Shame; I'd do it myself but I just can't catch him; there's something he's got that I haven't".

"Oh yes", the cat snickered, mischief in his slit pupils as he spoke again, "let me guess, a winning smile and an unmatched ability, when the going gets tough, to find a really good place to hide?"

"Close, he's got two un-knackered hips", Lianne filled him in, ignoring her son's outraged spluttering with the ease of years of long-practise, "I can't catch him literally, and that useless ball of hair couldn't do anything if I paid him so I'm afraid we're stuck with him the way he is. Unlike this one", technically she didn't need to step aside as Big was tall enough to look over her shoulder and see who'd been attempting to hide behind her the whole time but true to form Lianne shimmied across anyway, the youngster behind her suddenly a deer in the headlights as Big beamed at him, "typical of my luck this is; I've got one who never shuts up and one who never opens his mouth – this is my youngest, Edward say hello".

Big didn't say a word, he didn't dare to; even by raising a paw and casting the small armadillo, younger-looking even than Roddy, into shadow he was afraid of putting Edward at risk of a fear-induced coma. Certainly his eyes were dilated wide enough to threaten such a fate as a possibility and he definitely trembled as he beheld the monstrous cat before him. _Strange_; a sudden heavy weight settled in the cat's gut as he beheld Edward's grave expression, the set of his face making him look far, far older than the eight years at most he had already; _children usually get on all right with me_.

"Ahh", Mighty cocked her head, taking the attention away from where Lianne was looking disapproving of her youngest son as he turned to face her and hugged her leg tightly, burying his face against her thigh and clinging on like a limpet, "he's shy; don't worry Big he's like that with everyone".

"Is that so?" Taking a knee, the cat nevertheless directed a look off to the side of him as he lowered himself to the floor, Roddy meeting his glare head-on with a rebellious smirk and the tip of his tongue poking out from between his teeth, "don't get any ideas tough guy; hey come on Edward…"

"Eddy, or Ed", Big looked over his shoulder as Pockets cleared his throats and made that point clear, "we usually call him one or the other, he doesn't like Edward". The cat shrugged,

"Okay then; Ed, trust me I don't bite; if you don't believe me ask your aunt Mighty", he dared to reach forwards and brush the child's shoulder at the same time – the armadillo jerked away from his violently, still not relinquishing his hold on his mother's leg and Big admitted defeat for now, "okay mate, I'll speak to you later – bet you're starving".

"Too right we are; come on", exploding back onto the scene now someone had given him the chance to, Roddy tried to start ushering them towards where the dining table was still empty, his protesting stomach groaning at the sight and scent of so much food around and none of it being his, "I'm starving; the sooner we eat the soon we get to start playing".

"No, the sooner we start playing", his father corrected him, gesturing for Lianne to precede him towards the table as Mighty shook her head at his unspoken invitation, surreptitiously flicking a finger towards where her mother sat on her own still, Stefan's walk still delaying him from joining her, "you, on the other hand, have to go help Aunt Bekka down in the kitchen; loads of pots and pans to scrub down there now, that'll keep you out of mischief until at least lunch time".

"No!"

"Yes!" _You aggravation_; though far from an expert Big knew enough about reading people to know that Pockets was stringing his son along for a merry dance, punishment no doubt for the youngster doing a bunk earlier in the day, "you'll love it; maybe if you're good enough she'll make you some of that lovely toffee she can make…"

"You think so…?" Big chuckled and leant down to whisper to where Mighty stood watching that particular branch of her family departing, shaking her fearfully-plated head at the lot of them,

"You know you can't pick them on your way here", she glanced around and up at him as he tipped her a wink, straightening up and whipping his hand over her head just long enough to catch her closest ear between two fingers, caressing it softly as his hand moved up her head, "but it looks to me like you landed in the middle of an all-right crew overall".

"Most of the time; ah, don't", she cut off his questions before he could even think to phrase them, pointing over at where Emily was still waiting for them all with what looked like a full spread half-submerging the table around her by now, "I'll tell you later, on the way to the loch. For now, don't know about you, but I'm about ready to take a leaf out of Roddy's book", running a hand over her stomach, she licked her lips and headed for the table, her eyes set on the dishes in front of her mother, "I'm famished!"

XXX

Luckily with Pockets and the rest of his family around, rescuing Emily from where she'd been half-drowned beneath the hospitality of the Highland Steppes was relatively easy going – as he reached across for the sugar bowl Big caught the ey of the armadillo next to him and raised his brows. Intrigued, Mighty leant in a little closer in the pretence of reaching down to rub an itch on her leg, not letting anything show on her face as Big breathed into her closest ear,

"He might be a little monster"; _believe me you haven't seen anything yet_; "but at least he's a little monster with table manners". Glancing down the table, Mighty was only a little less than gobsmacked to see Roddy behaving himself with a visiting dignitary's decorum, politely asking his father and younger brother for things that were out of his reach and waiting patiently for the articles he required to be brought to him.

"True enough; mind you, that's the one thing we really crack down on this time of year", straightening up in her seat the armadillo carried on at the same time as push away her mostly empty bowl, replete with food for so early in the morning, "you'll see on Christmas day, the main meal after the present's get opened. It's like the only serious sit-down affair there is though, so our theory goes that the kids should be able to behave themselves for a couple of hours".

"Sounds fair enough; ah", raising his voice to carry over the hall itself, the cat raised the fork in his hand as a gesture of supplication towards the two shambling figures edging their way into the hallway, "got a good night down then; you're a fine one to have a go at a Mobian for his snoring you are".

"Am I?" Letting his father go on ahead of him, Derek's red-rimmed eyes still spoke no main message towards the target of his words, "first I heard about it. Alright H-R"; the first indication Big had that his table was one armadillo down was when he saw Roddy's back suddenly appear in his view, Derek stooping to scoop up his younger nephew. Over the child's yell of delight Big's attention was diverted by the sound of forehead meeting palm at low speeds; Pockets had his head in his hands, beholding the spectacle of his oldest son being swung up to his relation's shoulder like a prophet seeing the portents for Armageddon dawning in the distance,

"Oh boy, there goes the neighbourhood and then some".

"How so?" To Big's surprise his answer came from his left side, Mighty regarding the situation before her with as much amusement as her cousin was regarding it with horror,

"They're both absolutely car-mad, pair of them. Roddy worships the ground Derek walks on, thinks he's the best thing since sliced bread came about; he's already put the frighteners on his mum and dad"; _why do I get the feeling I'm going to regret asking?_; fortunately Mighty didn't make him physically ask the question in his mind, his expression must have been enough to convince her he was ready to listen to the next bit of her tale, "said he wanted to get his shell etched just like Derek had; last year he'd just started getting it done".

"Over my dead body", Lianne growled under her breath, pure malice in her voice as though trying to forget a really bad dream, "he comes back to me with a shell looking like it's gone through an industrial grinder and I'll rip it off, I've told him that". With a chortle, Pockets placed his hand on his wife's shoulder though he still had at least half a weather eye on where his son was running the toy car that seemed to be a permanent fixture to his hand over the top of Derek's shell, making the wheels whirr,

"Don't worry love; even with the open-hearted generosity of your rabble there's no way he can get anything like the money he'd need for that sort of op. Anyway, remember what I told him would happen if he even tried?" LIanne's head rocked from side to side for a couple of seconds as though her brain were trying to literally weigh something out before she grudgingly acquiesced to her husband's viewpoint on the matter,

"I suppose; if anything was going to get his mind off that zany scheme it would have been that". There was a clink of cutlery from nearby as Emily half-stood to look down the table, her eyes alight as they homed in on her cousin,

"What's this; Pockets having an idea that actually worked for a change – this really is the season of miracles then". As her daughter stuffed her glove into her mouth, Emily grinned right into the face of her glowering cousin, winking at Lianne as she attempted and failed to look supportive on her husband's behalf, face crumpling into a helpless, if quiet, fit of the giggles,

"Yuletidings of love and Christmas spirit to you and all Millie, and yes, I did have a damn perfect idea; you don't see Roddy with half his shell scraped away do you?" His antagonist glanced over at where the armadillo in question was being slowly lowered towards the floor, Derek finding a seat that satisfied him and wanting a bit of peace to eat his breakfast with,

"Not through that pullover I don't; I didn't think he liked Thomas the Tank Engine?"

"He loves anything mechanical these days, though I think that's this one's last year, it's getting a little tight around the arms", Lianne answered, eyeing up her offspring's garments with a mother's critical eye before turning to her in-law, a wicked gleam on her face that Big had to chuckle at, "but anyway, yes I have to admit he got it right this time, first time for everything I suppose. He threatened to spend Roddy's car deposit, little trust fund we'd set up for when he passes his test, on a fancy holiday for us all unless he promised not to get himself etched before he was moved out of home; once he's in his own place he can do what he likes but under my roof he lives by my rules".

_Must be a mum thing that_; somehow Big could just picture his own mother saying those very same words in that very same voice and he'd be believing them just as much as he was now; _dads can't quite get that right – it's got to be a mum that puts her foot down like that_. Seemingly he wasn't the only one who agreed,

"Nicely said", Emily inclined her head at her cousin's unusual flash of logical thinking, recalling a couple of incidents not too dissimilar to that one regarding her own flesh and blood; _though it has to be said she's a lot better behaved than she was when she was Roddy's age…most of the time anyway_; "nip it in the bud before it can spread too far, it's the only way you've got a chance". Finding himself full for the moment, Big allowed himself to stretch back a little more, scratching the itch on his back against the polished wood of the back of his chair at the same time as look across the table at the Mobian who'd said nothing all morning,

"And if only my mum were here I've no doubt she'd agree too; what about you though Eddie", the youngster flinched as though a bullet had whistled past his nose, virtually shaking at even Big's gentlest tone, "you have a favourite thing in the world? Your brother likes cars, what about you – you like them too?"

_There must be one in every family_; it seemed even that query was too much for Edward to open his mouth for; he shook his head vigorously, his lips as unmoving as if someone had stitched them together. Cheated once more of a conversation, the cat would have given this one up as a lost cause for the minute before someone else came in to force the younger Mobian's hand,

"Edward, that's not polite to just ignore people like that, especially not a guest"; Big wasn't sure if Edward looked to be more afraid of being forced to speak or his father's disapproving voice as Pockets turned to address his remaining child, "you don't like cars do you; what do you like doing? Come on, he's not going to turn into some big hairy monster and eat you".

"Dad's right Ed; he's already a big hairy monster"; _thanks for that – flatter me why don't you_; though nothing compared to the Look Mighty had given him earlier in the day Big would have liked to have thought that the sardonic glare he sent back towards her as she nudged him in the ribs was enough to prick her bubble on contentment as winked at her nephew, "but take it from me he's not going to eat you – he only eats fish". Apparently her last point had made up his mind; swallowing visibly, Edward took a deep breath and, still not able to look the cat in the face, managed to mumble his first word,

"'Lectronics".

Now that he hadn't quite been expecting; for a second Big had thought he'd meant computers and the games it was possible to play on them but something about the way he'd said even that short, shy word denounced that as false slightly. In this assumption too the cat was thwarted by the words of the budding electrician's father, patting his son's shoulder supportively with paternal pride,

"That's telling him Ed; yep, right little spark-plug we've got here – hand him a wire and a couple of loose screws he'll give you back a working robot with flashing lights and a working horn. He's been hooked on Robot Wars ever since it came on; ever seen that show?"

"No, can't say that I have", Big was forced to admit defeat on that count, the few snippets he could remember seeing briefly while visiting one of his friends hardly counting as viewing even a single episode of the programme, "going to build a battle-bot for it?"

"Hope so", ever so gradually Edward was easing himself out of his shell and onto ground he was most comfortable with – likewise encouraged that trying to talk with the armadillo wouldn't be a complete waste of breath, Big leant across slightly in a conspiratorial manner,

"Well, just in case you ever do, give me a bell and tell me the paint scheme you want it to have; bit a dab hand with the old cans and colours, between us we'll sweep all before us. First Robot Wars, then Techno-Games, and after that", the cat drew himself up pompously, Mighty by the side of him having to virtually steal herself away to avoid dig him in the ribs and pop his suddenly over-inflated sense of self-importance, "the world!"

There was a chortled splutter from further down the table but Big didn't dare pay it any heed; he merely remained in his grandstanding pose and hoped that his discovery of common ground with the youngster would grant him a more productive relationship than he'd been used to so far. _Okay, I think we've made contact_; catching flickers from the corner of his eye Big would have used the opportunity to go for a little more small talk until with an impact like a minor meteorite, the agreeable peace was shattered by Roddy who, having wormed his way under the table pretty much unseen by everyone, promptly dug his way free of the tablecloth squarely into his mother's lap. Caught off-balance by her son's misdirected strength Lianne was nearly upended as her chair was shoved backwards, her arms wind-milling madly as she fought to stop herself tumbling backwards. Big made to move but was left in the dust by his girlfriend; with a lunge right that left her straddled across his lap, Mighty managed to grab a fingertip's worth of the closest arm of her in-laws chair, delaying the fall until Pockets, closer and as such affected more by his eldest son's sudden appearance, threw off his shock and shot an arm out to arrest his wife's fall. Apparently unconcerned with the mayhem that had followed in his footsteps, Roddy pulled his way clear of the tablecloth that ensnared himself still, by a miracle not upsetting anything held on top of the table itself and glanced up insouciantly as where his mother was gasping for air and clutching her heart, all four feet of her chair finally back on the floor,

"You look funny mum; did you see him, did you see Uncle Derek, he made it early this year – I told him what I've added to the Scalectric set he got me last year – are you sure you're all right mum?" Just as he was bracing for the inevitable explosion, Big felt a knock at his elbow,

"Come on", Mighty gave a pointed glance towards the exit even if she couldn't quite keep the smirk off her face as Pockets' expression of scathing disapproval finally managed to work its way through his son's bullet-hard head and the younger armadillo shuffled back a touch, his words beginning to stumble each other as it finally dawned on him that he'd put a foot wrong, "we'd best leave them to it or we'll never get you with a rod in your hand come the end of the day. Mum, we're off". _Fine by me – they'll probably be embarrassed enough as it is without having a guest around to see it all kicking off_; noble as these sentiments were, however, not even Big's manners couldn't quite stop him glancing at the scene developing off to the side of him as Emily waved them both off, her predatory eyes catching the light of the weak winter morning, making it look for all the world like a pair of silver pennies were shining in her face as she bade a temporary farewell,

"All right then, oh and if you see your father around Mighty, let him know Lianne and I will probably be helping out to set up the competition tomorrow; weather looks to be good for it to all go ahead if the radio's anything to go by". Her daughter nodded and waved behind her to bid farewell to her relations just before they started ripping strips off their errant youngster,

"Will do". Big did likewise, though unfortunately he couldn't help himself not to take a glance over his shoulder just after he said he'd look forwards to seeing Emily later on the day; _oh dear – even if I was the roughest, toughest armadillo in the world if my mum was looking at me and her face was that colour I'd be ready to high-tail it towards the highlands and never look back!_

XXX

The bracing wind hit him like a welcome slap around the face with a wet towel in the middle of a summer drought; pausing just behind where Mighty had pushed the door open, he held it open with ease and dragged down another deep lungful before joining her outside, waiting politely as she quickly shucked on her coat and zipped it up to just under her Adam's apple. Closing his momentarily to take in the sensation of the Scottish weather all around him, Big paced slowly around to his normal position in the cold weather, his massive frame helping to act as a buffer between the worst of the wind and his girlfriend; _mind you_; insulated as he was he could barely feel the chill of this breeze anyway, but considering what he'd been exposed to so far in the north it seemed comparatively mild; _mind you, must still be cold for Mighty – that shell of hers might be hard but it doesn't hold the heat in all that well._ That much was true, and regardless of how hot or cold it actually happened to be the appreciative smile that lit up Mighty's face for his gesture more than melted away any residual cold he might have been feeling, the emotion seeming to liquefy his insides to a puddle of warm gloop before he pulled himself together a second later.

"Right then, which way to the water?" It seemed she'd either not noticed his earlier mistake or ignored it for his sake as, having fully woken up due to the weather, Mighty pointed off to her right,

"That way, now let's get a move on", as she hustled off, she breathed an explanation from the corner of her mouth as Big fell into step beside but slightly behind her, "if we're quick there's no chance dad'll catch us up; he doesn't usually head towards the loch in the morning".

"Why's that?" Big couldn't see his girlfriend's face but the chortle that slipped out under her breath almost answered his question in its entirety, the following words mere confirmation to his original suspicions,

"Dad and Uncle Reuben really don't like each other; no I mean that", he could only guess she'd glanced over her shoulder and taken in his reactionary expression; she turned to look at him directly, her face deadly serious, "they've mutually hated one-another since the day my parents tied the knot; Reuben thought that was a bad idea at the time and he hasn't changed his mind since". Big nodded in understanding even if he felt obliged to make a relevant point in favour of Mighty's older relative,

"Maybe so, though I don't suppose Stefan's done much to dissuade his suspicions". Mighty's shoulders shook; cursing himself, Big made to put a hand on her shoulder; _talking about her parents is a definite no-go – this must hurt her something chronic_; even as he finished the thought and his palm touched down on the armadillo's shoulder, he realised he could hear her giggling. Before he could say anything more to clarify the situation, Mighty's hand had clamped down over the top of his and yanked forwards, wrapping his arm around her throat as she barely quivered at the impact of him stumbling forwards into the back of her,

"You're learning Big", with a mock-snarl now he realised he could treat this whole thing as a joke, the cat threw himself back, lifting Mighty off her feet and pretending to strangle her for her impudence in unbalancing him, "you're definitely learning; now put me down before I have to hurt you!"

Spirits much lifted, the two set off towards the loch with general small-talk peppering the air between them; thankfully, as far as Big was concerned at least, if Stefan was anywhere about his path never crossed with theirs. The path they followed was actually fairly well-demarked, but there was no denying that the annual celebrations held by Mighty's family probably accounted for the heaviest volume of traffic the crooked little road experienced in a year; it was deeply rutted and, though there was a path that ran parallel with it, no-one from anything even close to a city background could have ever called it a pavement. _Good, I prefer it like that_; used to living as he did in marshland, Big hated the feel of pounding tarmac under his boot soles – after a while it made his feet hurt; _in fact, differences in temperature aside obviously, I could easily be right back at home and heading for my favourite fishing hole._ The flash of nostalgia stirred up a twinge of homesickness in his belly but, as his eyes dropped down and sideways, he was easily able to banish such a weak ghost with the sight that lodged into his vision; as far as he was concerned Mighty had risked far more than he had in this venture and out of respect for her nerves, to say nothing of the gratitude he still felt now that she cared enough for him to show him the rest of her family, more than outweighed his longing for the familiar surroundings of Mystic Ruins. To distract himself from dwelling on his home, he glanced around and thought he saw something in the distance; it was hard to be sure as the path he and Mighty were walking down kinked and twisted so often, but he could have sworn there had been something looming large up ahead,

"Mich, is there a village ahead?" The armadillo nodded, pointing off to the left,

"Yep, we'll not go through it though; Invergellie it's called, but the bit we're more interested in is probably what you saw. Well in fact when I saw we're interested in it", she chuckled, darting ahead a little to peer around the corner and usher him forwards, a shifty smile winking into life on her lips, "I actually mean it's Reuben who's more interested in it; Loch Gellie might be his fishing hole, but the Green Otter is definitely his watering hole".

As she'd expected Big didn't unduly hurry; taking things in his stride, he came to the corner she'd sprinted up to and peered around it towards where she was gesticulating. His eyebrows rose as he took in the squat form of the sturdy little pub, rustic and honestly built with only a well-trimmed and pretty little red-tiled roof to suggest it had been touched once by the advancement of the modern world's technology since the Middle Ages. A carnivore's nose, even blunted slightly by the coldness of the air around him, was still sensitive enough to catch a whiff of cooking from the kitchens of the establishment, mixed in with a hint of burning tobacco as a couple of the regular punters by the door took their leave from drinking to follow the Scottish law on smoking in public places. It certainly looked to be a cheery enough little corner of the world and Big suddenly understood why Reuben was so enamoured by it; after a long, certainly cold and quite often fruitless day out fishing the waters of the loch, a pint in front of a roaring fire must have been something to kill for.

"And I can quite sympathise with him", Big nodded at Mighty as he stepped past her a little, the armadillo catching him up within a couple of paces as he continued, "looks like a lively place for such a small clientele; I bet everyone here knows everyone else going back generations".

"And we're no exception; I'll tell you mate Reuben fills in all the regulars every year. Any new additions to the fold, anyone passing away, everyone up here knows – never been one to hold in good news has old Reuben".

"And why should he? You only get one shot at it, make the most of it I say, and if you can make someone else happy into the bargain all the better", the cat glanced up at the pub once more as he came closer, ignoring the two or three regulars still clustered around the entrance with their hands cupped over their pipes and cigarettes to prevent the wind extinguishing them as he looked up at the sign swaying gently in the breeze. _Hmm, might just be me here – nah, there's definitely a resemblance there_;

"Something up?" Mighty's query brought his vision back to earth and he chuckled, pointing at what he'd seen on the sign, the small green face of the otter resting on the wide, flat rock catching his eye,

"Something's up there all right; the otter looks a bit like Knuckles, don't you think?" Squinting as she didn't quite have his sharpness of vision at distance, Mighty cocked her head, trying to see it from a different angle,

"Yeah", she spoke slowly, rolling each word over the tip of her tongue at the same time as see where he was coming from, "it does a little bit, similar sort of eyes and face, just doesn't have the Rastafarian hairstyle, that I'm going to pluck out hair by hair the second I touch back down on Angel Island by the way". Reminded of her grudge by her boyfriend's words Mighty once more thought dark, dangerous thoughts about what she should do about getting even with the guardian who had humiliated her so well and evaded the blame so neatly just before the start of her holiday. Big winced and chortled at the same time, trying to cool her off a little at the same time as find out a bit more about the building in front of him; in his admittedly meagre knowledge about old-world establishments such as this, there was always a story behind the name of the place,

"I don't doubt he'll get what's coming to him, though I don't recommend that particular strategy – if nothing else I can't see Rouge being overly chuffed when her husband walks through the door bald as a snooker ball", Mighty's face hitched and she smothered her smile with a free hand, eyes squeezed shut in mirth as she pictured that eventuality and it tickled her insides, "but apart from what, any idea where the Green Otter got it's name; I've heard of the Green man, or Jack of the Green; is this something similar?"

Mighty pondered for a minute, though neither of them stopped walking as she scryed back through her memory banks, her gaze darting between the sign of the pub and the path in front of her as she sank her chin onto her hand. Big said nothing, content for her to take her time and let him know what she knew when she was sure she'd recalled it all. Eventually, just as the pair of them came well within earshot of the door of the pub and couple of the patrons noticed them, she answered as best as she could,

"I'm not a hundred percent sure myself but I think it's something to do with an old wives' tale about the Green Otter being a mythical beast than no-one's ever really seen or ever caught, sort of like the Golden Hind or the Yeti. Reuben would know though; Christ alone knows that pub's been his second home for the past forty years, what he doesn't know about it could probably be written on that sign with a pneumatic drill".

"Sweet, well then", nodding forwards with his eyes cast up Big locked eyes with the mysterious Green Otter once more as they passed level with the tavern itself, "see you later; much as I'd like to say I'll catch you sometime I doubt that's going to happen any time ever".

XXX

True to her word, the path Mighty had chosen only just clipped the edge of the village; aside from the inn the only signs of civilisation Big managed to see were occasionally the roofs of houses jutting up from the short, scrubby pine woodland surrounding the path on either side. Old needles crunched underfoot and more than once the cat felt the patter of a fresh shower falling onto his head – just as long as he didn't look up he reckoned he'd be okay overall. _It's true what they say about being up here_; glancing to the side of him, the cat let his gaze rest for a second on the only reminder he had that he wasn't alone in the world at the moment; _we could be the only two Mobians left on the face of the planet – I'll be if we put a foot out of place around here no-one would ever find us_. It was a thought that would normal have made him shudder but somehow with Mighty beside him the threat of ending up lost out in the rugged highlands didn't scare him as much as it once would have done. And, just as a bit of a bonus, being on their own as they were was the perfect opportunity for him to ask a couple of delicate questions he'd not have felt quite right about asking in the middle of the Highland Steppes, least of all with Roddy rushing around like a headless bull in a china emporium. All he had to do was work out the order to ask them in; _hmm…okay, let's try this one for starters_;

"Mi-tee", as he'd expected her ears pricked up, his slyly whining tone worming its way right into her mind and setting her guard up high, "I just realised back when your mum mentioned it; you've been keeping secrets from me". The armadillo stooped dead at glared up at him challengingly, only just keeping a smile off her face at the sight of his ham acting as he tutted and wagged a reproving finger,

"Oh right? Now what secret would that be Mr-oh-I-didn't-think-to-mention-that-Sophie's-going-to-pull-a-trick-on-you-because-you-broke-her-record-number-of-strikes-in-a-single-bowling-match?"

"How about, oh I don't know", the cat fingered his chin, finally letting his oily smile slip onto his face a second before Mighty's giggles swarmed out onto her, the armadillo not able to hold in her chuckles in the full force of his corny show, "well if I was to say the letters K-I to you at some stage, like just after the word Michelle, I don't suppose you'd have a clue what I was on about would you Might?" The armadillo raised an eyebrow; _how hard to get should I play this one…_;

"I might". The cat nodded, pointing at her and then himself, a dumb, goofy grin on his face as if applauding a student making an important point in class,

"Ya, you Might. I Big"; _bulls-eye_; recalling an old pseudo-horror movie he'd seen once that had used that old joke he decided to employ it now and was rewarded as the armadillo's defences splintered beyond all hope of repair. Snorting hopelessly, Mighty found her previous thought answered without a second's deduction; _…not very_;

"Stop, stop you'll kill me", taking a breath in she managed to calm her mirth before it could spread too far, "right, fine; yeah I've got a pair of middle names but believe me I didn't not mention them because I'm ashamed of them or anything, it really did just slip my mind. You don't have any do you?" Big shook his head,

"No, Chloe does though; Jade. Originally it was going to be a double-barrelled name but in the end they, mum and dad that is, thought it'd be too much of a hassle and just dropped it to the middle slot".

"Jade", Mighty fingered her lip for a second, clashing the two names together in her head and seeing how they affected the pronunciation, "I think they made the right choice overall, Chloe-Jade just doesn't sound right. Actually that might have gone better with Sophie you know; Sophie-Jade's not bad, sound a bit more natural, rolls of the tongue better if you follow?" _I follow pretty well – yeah that does sound good_; the more he thought about it the more that name didn't look out of place on one of his twin sisters; _and it would have matched her eyes too. Reckon mum and dad might have missed a trick there – not something I intend to do I can assure you, distraction techniques or not_;

"Can't say fairer than that, it does sound okay", he let Mighty bask in the praise for a second before transfixing her with his full attention, a wicked smile blossoming on his face this time, "but what about you Michelle – would a triple-barrelled name have suited you at all?" The armadillo recoiled, shaking her head as though trying to ward off bad memories,

"No, I'd never have forgiven them if they had; I mean Michelle for an armadillo's bad enough, I sometimes think I'd have preferred it if they'd swapped one of my middle names for that one. What do you reckon", she took a step back, allowing Big to size her up with a more critical eye this time, "Isabelle or Kelly better than Michelle?"

_Michelle Kelly Isabelle Armadillo?_; it was a bit of a mouthful to be sure but he'd heard longer names in his time – after all one of his cousins had five names in total he was sure, six if you included his double-barrelled first name of Bradley-Johansson. Trying to put her question foremost in his mind Big tried to superimpose each name over the squat, powerful form he was so proud to consider as his girlfriend but in the end he was forced to disagree with her whichever way he looked at it,

"Nah, sorry but you've been Mighty too long to have that change now", the armadillo gave a wistful sigh before shrugging; _at least he never took the mick like some of them did at school_; "anyway, your parents fond of the letter L were they – eight in four names what's going on there?" The armadillo rolled one eye upwards as though trying to compute something before giving in with a giggle,

"Never thought of that; you know that never even crossed my mind. Kelly, Michelle – yep there's definitely eight isn't there?" Big nodded as Mighty looked herself up and down in awe; _how did I not notice that earlier?_ It was just something she'd never really considered – after all, hardly anyone in her own family either knew or cared about her middle names so she had pretty much taken them for granted; once more Big had seen something she'd never thought of as being true and forced her to take a look in the mirror, observe what she'd been originally blind to. He did that all the time and truth be told it was one of the reasons she liked him so much; there was no rest for his keen eyes or unwavering intellect; every time they were able to come together she seemed to find something else to re-evaluate, reconsider as soon as she was able to see the cat once more. _Some things now, other things later on…_; the thought crashed in on her mind unbidden and at once she shushed it, finding the ground all of a sudden taking on a strange allure as she couldn't take her eyes off it, unable to even look at the cat for a minute as she wrestled with the rogue, challenging thought that had whipped across her mind and thrown everything up in the air.

"Might?" _Uh oh_; the one time in the world she would have given her left arm for him not to be around and he was looking right at where she was unable to keep her tormented writhing hidden, "everything okay? You're not still cold are you surely?"

"A little", she confessed, grateful for any kind of lifeline in a storm such as this, "that and trying not to sneeze I might add; don't worry, nothing contagious".

"I should hope not; already had one cold this year, don't want another", Big assured her before his hand swooped down; Mighty leapt back, grabbing onto her suddenly stinging arm as he brought something up for him inspection, grinning like hell as she realised what he'd done and glared because of it, "although maybe it's not so surprising you're feeling a nip in the air; as is immediately apparent from the sample I have here, armadillos as a whole get nothing even remotely approaching a reasonable layer of protection in winter. How did your family survive up here in the Dark Ages again?"

"With a lot of difficulty", she grated back through gritted teeth, not really angry as she watched him blow away the few strands of her fur he'd tweezed out, watching them flutter to the floor in the wind of his breath, "though I'd bet more crests than Vector spends on chips in a year that none of them did it by swelling up like beach-balls the second snow started to settle on the ground".

At those words, rather than deflating as she'd rather hoped he would, the cat drew himself up proudly and seemed to swell, both his hands planted solidly on his hips as he looked down at the armadillo imperiously, his entire winter coat bulked out and making him look more fearsome than comical,

"Beach-balls is it Miss Armadillo?" She raised an eyebrow, casual on the surface even if she had to struggle to prevent her back plates from clicking together from the tension, "this is a proper, bona-fide winter coat I'll have you know, not like that kitten-fluff your mob calls hair – meant to last out a proper winter this one was. I could huddle down then dig my way out of blizzard that'd have you buried until they thawed you out in spring time".

"And you just answered your own question"; _how so?_; he was sure he'd not left himself open to any sort of comeback this time – what had she dreamt up to thwart him, "how we survived that long ago, answer on a plate for you; my family were the first people in the world to invent cryogenics; walk out into the teeth of it midwinter, wake up nice and refreshed in the New Year. No problem…" It was Big's turn to spin the tables this time,

"Save for the archaeological team that digs one of your ancestors up; one minute they've got a perfectly preserved stone-aged mummy, next minute it's sat up, yawned a couple of times and asked for breakfast. How on Earth would you try and put that one down in the history journal?"

"With great difficulty", Mighty was forced to agree before clapping her hands and deciding, not without a couple of pangs of regret it had to be said, to return to business, "anyway, fun as it is to stand around mocking each other like we are the day is short up here", beckoning him forwards Mighty turned to follow her own advice and noted with gratitude Big falling into step in his normal position, beside but behind her, blocking off the winter breeze, "at the rate we're going Reuben'll be beating us home; now quit your gassing and follow me, we've still got a bit of a way to go yet".

XXX

_Yikes_; Big's first thought was one of annoyance as Mighty's arm suddenly flung itself across his path, barring his way and giving him a not-inconsiderable buffet across his middle as he ran into the unexpected obstacle. It was only when he looked past where his girlfriend had stopped him that he noticed the path he'd been blindly following whilst chatting with his guest submerged under small, lapping waves of black water that he realised how lucky he'd been that Mighty had kept an eye on where they both were; _I'd not have noticed until I'd walked right into it, and I'm guessing that at this time of year that water can do a lot more than just chill ten little piggies_.

"That's…well it's…", he was going to say the set-up was dangerous but the word just didn't quite seem to fit right; after all, it was just the same in Mystic Ruins – as long as you kept an eye on where you were going rather than just talking away with your head in the clouds you were perfectly safe, "…it's not something you see every day is it?" Mighty gave a disbelieving snort as she lowered her arm, convinced that her partner wasn't about to go wandering into the loch without realising he was getting his feet wet,

"And that from the guy who lives in swamp-town – I'd have thought you get this by your front door pretty much every day, the only guy in the world who has to swim to work every day".

"Only if it's been really rainy", Big admitted, a couple of occasions where he'd been forced to bail out his house still as fresh in his mind now as they had been then as he pointed at where the water of Loch Gellie waved gently back at him under the effects of the wind rippling is surface, "and Wull did say they had a wet August didn't he; no wonder he was worried about the loch over-spilling". Mighty nodded, her gaze too cast out over the water before her after she'd located what she'd been looking for prior to making her next statement,

"True enough, this area as a whole's pretty low-lying; the Highlands are about twenty or thirty miles that way. That said though they've never really had a problem with it bursting its banks, touch wood", instinctively she reached out and tapped the side of the silver birch nearest to her, warding off bad karma before she continued with a chuckle, "don't panic though, you'd not have been the first one to walk right into it when it's been a bit higher than normal, even Reuben's fallen into that trap on a couple of occasions". _Speaking of which_; reminded by her name-dropping of who they'd come to see Big scanned around for a bit, hoping to pick out another armadillo with his enhanced height and vision but was forced to concede defeat, unable to pick anyone or anything relevant out of the surrounding background of pastel greens, browns and black water,

"Any idea where he is just out of interest", an idea cropped up in his mind and made him smile even as the irony kicked him square in the teeth, "you don't suppose he's taken a break and supping a pint in the pub he's going to tell us all about do you?" Mighty laughed in tandem with him for a moment before shaking her head, pointing to something around the far corner of the loch,

"Nah, he'll be over there; Reuben's a creature of habit if ever there was one. His favourite fishing spot's underwater, it's at the end of the path there, about four foot down or so now, so he'll be in one of two places since he can't use that one. He'd either be over there and waving at us now", Big glanced up and memorised the place she pointed to, making a mental note to superimpose the image of her great-uncle onto the seemingly desolate spot she'd picked out the second he had it to make sure he knew what he was looking for as the armadillo moved on, "or he'll be down there, right at the tail-end of the loch and just out of sight. Come on, we'll have to take a bit of a hike to get there but at least there's a proper bridge there now, the last one was a real woodworm holding hands job".

"I'll bet", Big replied, taking the lead for a change now he knew where he was going and gratefully moving off the path, setting foot onto the deep, rich Scottish loam and feeling dead leaves and needles crinkling underfoot, "how's that armadillo logic go again – if it's still standing use it, if it falls down replace it with something better, something like that?" He heard a mock-snarl behind him, his tail registering a none-too-gentle slap even if he couldn't stop the grin edging around his face as he caught Mighty out with one of her favourite sayings,

"Yeah, something like that, now get a move on; there are a lot of things I like to see when I get here every year and take it from me your purple posterior does not make that grade".

"Aww", Big tried to act coy as he gave his hips a theatrical wiggle, rewarded as he heard a badly-choked snort behind him; pressing while he had the advantage he milked his corny act for all it was worth, "you know you want it baby; it's just too much for you to handle". _Oops!_

Just in case he was left in any doubt whatsoever about how over the top that last statement had sounded Mighty, or to be more accurate Mighty's resultant hysterical giggling fit, had been more than enough to convince him of his open mouth, insert foot. _At least_; even now he forced himself to look on the bright side as Mighty leant into him, face bright red and gasping for air as she pummelled his stomach weakly, bursting into fresh laughter every time she glanced up into his scarlet face and strained grimace; _at least now Reuben will probably know we're coming, and if nothing else it'll make the introductions a bit more interesting than they would have been otherwise._

XXX

Crunching down the skeleton of yet another thistle as he tackled another of the gently rolling swells that flanked the loch, Big took a minute out to catch his breath; going up and down hills such as even these gentle ones was enough to make him puff as he was more used to moving across flat marsh ground rather than having to ascend. On the other hand though he was at least a little better protected from the remains of the straggly undergrowth than Mighty was, his thick fur almost as impervious to thistle thorns as it was to the probing wind, so he guessed that overall it was honours even as he looked over his shoulder to see Mighty draw level with him, apparently none the worse from her climbing exertions,

"Ah that's about right, if he's standing right we'll see him after we get to the top of the next one, after you've had a bit of a breather", standing up straight at her words, forcing himself to choke down a big breath of air despite the slight cramps that started twanging in his flanks, Big looked down as she finished, "not easy walking up here, especially if you're not used to it". The cat gave a gruff grunt of agreement, approaching something close to a ready state to move on again,

"Where are those highlands you mentioned earlier; remind me never to head that way unless you fancy dragging me up one of the peaks; no way I'd get there under my own steam".

"Me neither; I might not look it", Mighty raised a hand against her boyfriend's look of disbelief, shaking her head self-depreciatingly as she accepted the truth she could feel in her body, "but this is one way Angel Island hasn't helped me out too much, it's pretty flat as well most of it, I've become a tenderfoot again. Certainly lost the knack of this sort of walking at any rate". _That was nice to make me feel better, but she shouldn't do herself down like that_; the cat reached down, his index and middle fingers softly closing around Mighty's nearest ear and gently pulling back towards him, rolling the thin skin between them as they did so. The armadillo shuddered, knees going weak at the touch as she let out a soft 'ooh' – in common with most Mobians her ears were more than sensitive to that kind of attention and, when it finally ended and Big relinquished his hold on the tip of her ear, she shivered a final time before blinking herself back to wakefulness and swatting the cat's closest arm,

"What you do that for?" Far from being discouraged by her attack, that same arm reached around to pull her into a one-armed embrace; held so closely even if her arm barely made it halfway across the cat's back, Mighty felt as much as heard his answering purr,

"Because, kind as it was to do so, you've got to learn not to rubbish what you can do; simple fact of the matter is you're a much better mountain-walker than I am, even if you probably can't climb to the same extent I can". _I can live with that_; Mighty didn't answer, she didn't feel she had to for the simple reason Big was right; _I can't climb like him just because I don't have claws like him, or Knuckles either for that matter_; memories of that particular echidna soured her emotions but only briefly – here and now she could see and have to admit, albeit not out loud or in public, that the masterstroke he'd pulled on two members of the Chaotix combined was an absolute gem of both deception and sleight-of-hand. Not that such an admission was going to help the guardian in any way, shape or form when she arrived back on Angel Island and dragged him out of whatever hole he was hiding in to visit retribution on his tail…

Such visions of vengeance were so sweet that she almost didn't realise Big had moved on until she almost toppled over where she'd been stood – somehow despite being almost a head and a half taller than she was, not to mention twice as wide, he'd managed to almost sneak ahead and was just starting to tackle the incline ahead of him. Managing to regather both her wits and her tongue she surged after him, all her senses sharp and her body back to prime working order after the brief lull they'd both shared.

"At least you got your breath back a bit". The cat stopped his ascent as she drew level with him, already panting despite his recent break in the climb,

"Yeah, shame I had to go and lose it just as fast", shaking himself to let some air circulate in his fur, the cat sucked down another breath before beginning to follow the armadillo up the slope once more, "next time, tell your uncle to set up…shop a little…closer to home?"

"Sorry Big, he's not going to change any time soon; anyway, I wouldn't do that even if he would listen to me and pick his fishing spots a bit better"; _now why's that?_; just by the tone of voice he could tell the reason for this went a lot deeper than just enjoying the walk – the cat held his peace, waiting to hear the story in Mighty's own time as she stopped, the zenith of the slope they were marching up together almost within reach of the them both, her eyes trained on the left side of the ridge as she tapped her fingers together, her voice fading back to a time in her past as Big listened on, "walking here to see him gave me one of my favourite memories; I won't say it was one of my best memories because it's a bit…sort of scary – I mean I was perfectly safe and all but even so", she shook her head, Big unsure if the shiver running up her back was due to elation, terror or some mixture of the two as she spoke again,

"It was a wildcat, a real Scottish wildcat – dad always said it might have been a stray gone feral but no, not a chance", she shook her head as much as she was able to, refuting her father's explanation now as much as she had then, seeing once more the lean, sleek silhouette prowl up the ridge ahead of her, either completely unaware or completely uncaring of the terrified armadillo girl scant feet from its path, "I know a wildcat when I see one and this was one of them. It was there, right there; walked right past me as if I didn't exist. No word of a lie I was petrified, if it had so much as flicked its tail my way I'd have been off like a shot but it never did, didn't even look at me. It just carried on walking, you know that way cats have when they walk, the shoulder-motion they do – well, of course you do", she smiled sheepishly as Big tried to unsuccessfully hide a smile and roll his eyes dramatically, the same motion affecting his shoulders as though to emphasise his unspoken point without interrupting the flow of Mighty's story as she carried on in the same tone of wonderment, "but she just carried on, knew it was a she-cat when she walked past me. Went right on minding her own business, rubbed up against that tree over there and then disappeared; I wanted to follow her but I couldn't move, I was so scared, and so excited".

"So what did you do?" Infected by the excitement of the story Big found himself desperate to know the ending; glancing over at him, Mighty totted something up in her head before deciding it wasn't worth making a jibe out of and answered with the simple truth rather than a challenge,

"I stayed where I was for…for I don't know, ten minutes or so, felt like hours, then I exploded; no word of a lie I sprinted around this lake; poor old uncle Reuben never stood a chance I just gabbled it all out at him without breathing once. He believed me, which is probably why dad didn't; the only wildcats left are supposed to be all up in the highlands but Reuben reckons there are still a few around the low ground and out the pair of them I'll take his thoughts over dads' every time on that sort of subject".

"Sounds like a bit of an outdoorMobian", Big mentioned, trying to set the scene in his mind and recreate the spectacle for himself; _it'd be a fine painting – watercolour would be good but oils would make it look stunning_; the phantom cat his mind had dreamed up paced forwards and backwards over the ridge top a few times before his closed his eyes, banishing the phantom for a second before finishing his original thought, "so come on", Mighty looked up with that familiar sparkle back in her eye, thrusting one foot forwards, her boot biting into the turf as she kept pace with Big, joining him in the quest to locate one of her more favoured relatives, "let's go track him down".

Contrary to Mighty's postulations Reuben wasn't able to be viewed from the top of the ridge, probably due to the simple expedient of his normal fishing spot being once again submerged. It was only when they were coming around to the end of the loch itself, the bridge that would cross the stream that bled the water out of the loch and further down the watercourse itself just hoving into view, that Big managed to stand up straight, shield his eyes against the weak winter sun and give a grin,

"Hey up; armadillo with fishing rod three o'clock high", he pursed his lips, seeing the motion Reuben was making and tracing the ripples in the surface of the loch as he cast his line out far, "and that was a chuck and a half, especially if he's just got a fly on the end of that line".

"Where? Where? Oh I can't see", frustrated by her lack of height compared to Big, his partner decided to solve that problem by the easiest method available, "give us a boost". She span around, not even squirming as she felt the cat's thick fingers seize the side of her shell and hoist upwards, her feet leaving the ground just as she finally managed to follow Big's line of sight and cup her hands to her mouth, acting as an impromptu loudhailer, as she shouted across the water,

"Hey Reuben, anything biting today?" She waited a second, ears cocked into the wind, for the reply that was duly bellowed back to her,

"Quit your shouting, you'll scare the fish away", craning her neck upwards as much as she was able to Mighty brought her gaze in line with Big's in time to give a long-suffering what-can-you-do look as her uncle continued, "and wha's that massive shag-rug you brought with you? I ain't that old girl, I don't need no security blanket yet".

"Good because this one's mine", Mighty hollered back, seeing her relation smile and beckon to them both, wanting them to continue their journey around the water, "see you in a minute uncle. Come on"; _oh yeah, she's buzzing this time around_; as he set her back on her feet Big didn't need to see Mighty's face to know how excited she was, he could practically feel the excitement crackling around her like static across an old television screen, "he's heard all about; let's show him you can fish with the best of them". Knowing that trying to string this one out would be a complete waste of time Big merely followed on, keeping pace with his girlfriend as she scrambled down the slope to the foot of the next burr to climb,

"As long as he lets me know about that Green Otter thing", the cat said, Mighty glancing over her shoulder as much as she was able to as Big steeled himself for the next part of the climb, "that's fine by me".

With a whirr, the line whipped up out of the water; Big took a pace back as the armadillo gave the end of his rod an experimental wave, testing the direction of the wind,

"The Green Otter", having heard the cat's question Reuben gave it a little rumination at the same time as begin to flick the rod back and forwards with greater speed and ferocity, the line playing out from the reel more and more as the movements became longer, building up to the cast itself, "it's just a sign on that old tumble-down ruin; nothing more than that".

"Oh pull the other one, you haven't lost that many of your marbles yet you old winkle", the older armadillo shot a sharp glance at where Mighty was sitting cross-legged on his fishing rug, glancing at her uncle with cheeky annoyance glinting in her eyes, "stop aggravating Big before I hook that fly through your tail and start casting for bigger fish than you're ever going to catch". The sound of the well-oiled fishing reel playing out the vast majority of its line coincided with the snort of dismissive irritation from its owner as he shook his head both his great-niece and her partner,

"Pah, you wouldn't know fly-fishing from fly-zipping", the older of the pair declared before losing his truculent attitude; seeing Reuben's attention swivel towards him, Big paid more attention, "though I've heard she says a lot about your prowess with the rod and reel; give it a go when I've got this line back in". The cat shrugged; _fine by me, just made my life easier in fact – now I won't sound rude if I ask for a try_;

"Sure thing", the cat agreed before his face darkened and Mighty braced herself as he sent an obvious glance her way, "what else did she tell you?"

"Nothing I'd dare repeat"; _no fair – it's my family, I should using them to embarrass you not the other way around_; Mighty could do nothing but fume as her great-uncle was only too happy to join in the fun at her expense – she could only be grateful that he kept it as short as he did in the end, "but anyway, you were saying, the Green Otter?"

"Yep, thought it was an unusual name at first but Mighty was sure there's a story attached".

"And there is, you know that as well as I do", the aforementioned armadillo chipped in from her seat on the sidelines, "in fact you know it better than I do – you should do at least, you spend about half of every Christmas in there". Reuben pursed his lips for a second before capitulating with a shrug, ever so gradually winching the line back in from the water with a monotone ticking noise from his reel, a useful backdrop to his voice as the story began to unfold,

"Half is a gross injustice young lady; it'd be a lot more than that if Peg would give me permission to rent a room there but no, got to at least try to be sociable with the rest of the family or some other codswallop. But that's by the by; what you're on about isn't the pub, it's the story behind it – the Green Otter", he broke off for a minute; Big fancied he could virtually see the thoughts coming together behind the old armadillo's brow before, still in time with the ticking of the line emerging from the water, Reuben spoke again, "it's an old fable really; a local legend about a spirit that appears around the loch, protecting it and the beasts that live near and in it from strangers and helping those that respect it. Some people round here, when either they or their children have gotten lost, swear something's guided them home, and a few years back, this big market-developer tried to stake a claim on the loch itself, said he wanted to make the whole place a new tourist destination. Something made him pull out of that, and it wasn't the voice of the local people whatever his spin department might say – he respected local traditions as far as I could drink the loch waters down in thaw time. But there are hundreds of them; sometimes I think every little corner of Scotland's got its own little bogle or kelpie to call its own – the Green Otter's certainly not on its own, assuming it does exist". Tongue suddenly dry as he let the story sink into his memories, there to join the dozens of others he'd heard in his life, Big asked the next question, the same one he always asked following hearing a tale concerning the supernatural,

"And what do you think? Do you think it exists?" Reuben smiled, looking past the cat to speak to his great-niece before answering the guest directly,

"Ah, that's nice to see; who was that geek you brought when you were a kid, always saying he didn't believe in stupid fairy-tales? I like a Mobian with a bit of imagination, but me", the armadillo shrugged, not even looking at the water as it seemed nothing was biting at the fly on this pass, "I don't know Big. I'm sure all the boffins from all the academies in the world could come and investigate this loch from end to end and prove beyond doubt there's no such thing as the Green Otter but they won't, same way they could do the same with Loch Ness but they won't. The story's not important as far as I can see; there's got to be some forces out there that let me make it back to the Steppes on those nights that Tam swapped the local ale for something a bit heavier and forgot to tell me". Mighty chuckled, recalling a couple of the times her uncle had rolled in somewhat more than merry; there was no mystical creature there that she could ever remember,

"I'm pretty sure most of the time that was poor Wull being forced to go and pull you out your ditch for the night; you probably didn't remember though, the state you were in". Unusually however, rather than swallow the bait hook, line and sinker to draw her into a verbal brawl, Reuben merely inclined his head at the same time as hear his fly leave the water and raise the tip of his rod up,

"Most of the time I'm sure it was, but there were a few times, when you were just the apple of your mothers' eye, when we were both as bladdered as each other – something got us home safe then and I couldn't tell you what it was", he grimaced for a second, the fingers of his reel-hand coming up to tap his forehead for a second, "though I wish it had stayed around until the morning; having a headache's one thing but having a headache whilst trying to get ready and high-tail it back to the loch before Peg rises up from her bunk – I'd give a whole holt full of Green Otters to get me out of that!"

"If she's anything like another armadillo not a million miles away I could mention I can full understand why", Big said genially after sending a warning nod Mighty's way to make sure she wasn't going to get the wrong end of the stick entirely, "but apart from that, my turn to chance my arm I suppose".

"You suppose right", Reuben gave a nod to the notion, passing his rod over to the cat before moving over to settle down next to where Mighty was sat, the younger armadillo budging up a touch to give him room to sit down, "I'll take a pew for a minute; pass us that flask would you Might, I've got a dreadful thirst". Leaning back, Mighty snagged the thermos flask through the eye-hole of the cup and hefted it towards her,

"I don't doubt it", deftly unscrewing the mug and the little tip under it, she took a sniff of the contents and held the open neck of the flask away, the smell mixed in with the tea not one she enjoyed at all, "like a bit of tea with your brandy uncle – you do know alcohol makes you dehydrated right?"

"A little tot never hurt anyone, and brandy", reaching over to prise his drink from her, Reuben poured a generous measure into the cup and took a swig, smacking his lips as the hot fluid swilled past them both, "thought you'd know better than that Michelle; whisky and whisky alone, that a Scotsman's drink". Mighty gave a laugh at the same time as accept the cup Reuben offered her, taking a sip of the hot tea and closing her eyes as it burned down into her belly; _the only way of melting out the Scottish winter – get some central heating installed_;

"And since when have you been a Scotsman you Sassenach? No, sorry I tell a lie, you Yankee Sassenach, the worst kind there is", keeping a careful eye on her uncle and another on where Big was preparing to cast, the line above his head twirling like a kite string as he built up the momentum he needed to put distance on the fly, "six months of the year you're over in the States, the other half you invade these fair shores – you know there's no need for you to come back right, the war ended in nineteen forty-five".

At once, the very second the date slipped past her lips, a cloud of depression fell over Reuben's face and he turned away from her; _sorry uncle_; respecting his privacy Mighty also looked away, knowing that the war her relation had fought in held memories that he had never divulged to anyone but his wife, memories that he would carry to his grave as so not to burden the rest of his family with their dirges of remorse and guilt;_ I should have known better_;

"I know it did Michelle", his voice was quiet and sombre, all the joking he had used earlier gone for good, "I've never been more grateful for that fact, and I'll never be truly happy until I'm certain that they'll never be another one. Only one good thing ever came out of that wretched time and that was finding my wife in the aftermath". A noise like a 'thwip' and a loud whirr distracted both armadillos; it carried on for several long seconds until a much quieter splash ended it; dexterously working the reel to jerk in the line irregularly, making the movement of the fly on the end of the line life-like for any passing fish that might have been tempted, Big looked over the pair of them from around his shoulder – just from the look on his face Mighty knew what he was going to ask, and knew that she was powerless to stop him,

"You were one of the Doughboys Reuben?"

XXX

_The what?!_; blinking in stupefaction Mighty ran those words over and over in her head; _doughboys – what's one of them?_ She didn't have a clue but apparently her uncle did – Reuben nodded slowly before holding up a hand, an old man's gesture of wanting a subject to go no further,

"Yes, yes I was, but please Big, I'll say no more about that", he gritted his teeth, visions like evil phantoms racing behind his eyes as bursts of shrapnel and the screams of the dying echoed throughout his mind once more – with a mental shove he forced them back, reminding himself of where he was and who he was with, amongst family and friends, not on some hellish battlefield where death stalked everywhere and life hung by a thread, "I saw too much out there, lost too many good friends on the beaches and in France – I don't…"

"I understand; I never liked that about history", the cat's voice was gentle and understanding; Mighty felt her heart swell up as her partner once more let his head rule over his thirst for knowledge and steering the conversation away from ground her relation would not cross again, "all we seemed to study was war and oppression, there are some success stories throughout time you know. Hey, whoa", in an instant both armadillos were on their feet, Reuben grabbing for the nearby landing net as Big wrapped a meaty hand around the reel of the rod, stopping it playing out more line, "something's biting". Excitement pumped though Mighty's veins as her uncle rushed forwards to assist with the capture just as it had when she'd been, in Reuben's colourful parlance, small enough to count for fish-food,

"What is it?" Neither fisherMobian answered, she hadn't expected them to; both were utterly focused on the task of landing their prize and she well understood that concentration; on the few occasions she'd managed to hook something other than weeds in Mystic Ruins she'd heard no-one else speak until she'd hauled the fish out of water. Her heart was in her mouth, hands all but clasped together as she saw the tip of the rod her boyfriend still held move upwards by increments, then faster and faster until it was near vertical. _Is that it?_; a little doubt began to creep back into her as she looked at the way the rod was barely bending; if they had caught a fish it couldn't have weighed much – before she could question the idea though, Reuben had given a sigh and stepped to the side, allowing her to see the catch still wriggling frantically on the end of the line. As his niece began cracking up at the sight of the struggling perch suspended in mid-air, he quickly pulled off his left glove and stopped to dip his hand into the waters of the loch, making sure it was cool before touching the olive scales of the handsomely-striped freshwater predator.

"That", he said, looking up at where Big was chortling merrily, a little pleased with himself at landing even a tiny morsel like this with his first cast, "is what's known in the trade as a false alarm. Come here you", his wetted paw closed around the perch, holding the fish still while he teased the hook free of its lip, "let go of my tinsel-fly, and if so much as prick my finger I'll turn you into a flying fish!"

XXX

"Bit of a card that one". _Don't think I could have put it better myself_; glanced up at where the cat was looking back towards the loch Mighty couldn't help but agree with his assessment of one of her more favoured relatives – already she was almost pining to be back with him for a minute despite the night beginning to draw in. At the first sight of the shadows lengthening Mighty's hand had been forced; neither she nor Big knew the way back well enough to run the risk of it getting dark before trying to find their way back to the Highland Steppes, and neither of them wanted to break Reuben away from his favourite pastime to show them back in the early evening,

"I don't think he'd argue with that too much", the armadillo gave an honest answer before giving voice to a query she'd had brewing in her mind since Big had first voiced the word, "anyway, what did you say he was earlier. Doughboy wasn't it – what the hey is one of them?"

"Doughboys was a slang term used to describe American soldiers in the Second World War; I said I didn't like history, that's not the same thing as being able to remember it", Big added succinctly, neatly nipping any comeback she might have had in the bud; it seemed his strategy had worked as Mighty first opened her mouth, then closed it again, furrowing her brow as she did so.

"Fair enough, and that shouldn't have come out anyway. That was me being a prat and forgetting Reuben hated any mention of the war – he always said he fought in the war, he didn't want to have to live in it again".

"No wonder, and I know how he feels in a way"; _of course you would – me and my big mouth_; Mighty squeezed her eyes shut – it seemed like every time she opened her mouth now she ended up exchanging which of her feet she had in it; _Reuben's not the only one with memories he'd rather bury_.

"I'm sorry".

"Don't be; it's nearly Christmas – this is not the time to be feeling sorry for people. Never look back, look forwards – that's what he and I do, or should I say it's what I do now; come one you taught me that. You've got to take some of your own advice Michelle, though I guess it must be tough for you to realise when you've had a good idea, they don't come along very often".

Big, not for the first time, had reason to be grateful for his species; larger than average or not he still had the reflexes of a cat and those reflexes were the only thing between him and Mighty's slap hitting home as the armadillo took umbrage at his backhanded cheek,

"Maybe not but they come along more often than anything half-decent Reuben's managed to land", she grumbled as he fell gingerly back into pace beside him, the cat having to fight hard to keep both tongue and smirk under control, "that's his Christmas dinner you know?"

"What is – that little perch I managed to hook?" Big started at her incredulous, gaping as she nodded, "that wouldn't feed a pike on a diet; how's he supposed to live off that?"

"You'll see come Christmas Eve; he always has a real day-long fish, goes into the night until he lands a nice-sized trout or salmon. He brings it back to the Steppes, the only fish he ever kills while he's up here mind, lets the rest of them go, and Bekka serves it to him and Peggy instead of turkey the next day. He says it's because he provides well for his wife; I just think it's because neither of them can stand the taste of turkey". Big scratched his chin a touch, working his way through the logic until he reached a conclusion by raising his eyebrows,

"Must say I'm not over-enamoured with it myself, not unless it's smothered with gravy", he smacked his lips, the taste once more on his tongue as he ordered his memory to serve up a sample for him to enjoy, "but anyway, you asked something now it's my turn; why'd you all call him Reuben – it said on his fishing back that it was registered to a Mr James Armadillo with an address in the U.S".

"Reuben James, don't you get it?" _Obviously not_; Big shook his head nonplussed as Mighty stepped in to relieve his confusion, "he is the world's greatest country and western fan, and believe me I mean that; he's got so many vinyl tracks that he had to have an extension built to put them all in. Anyway there are a couple of James's in our family and he loved that kind of music, so we all started nicknaming him Reuben James after one of the classics. Eventually that got shortened to just Reuben and we've not stopped since; he's never minded, neither's Peg for that matter and take it for me if she says jump he'll be the first to ask into what mud". Big sniggered, recalling the commanding force of will of the armadillo matriarch he'd met last night; _no, she definitely doesn't look like someone you'd want to cross_;

"She seemed like the type; wonder why she doesn't stop him fishing if she doesn't like him coming in late at night?"

"Two reasons", they popped straight into Mighty's mind and she knew there was no way she was mistaken about them, "firstly not even he would obey that one and secondly it'd probably mean they'd not come at all – he can't fish much in the States, he saves it all for when he comes over here. Aunty Peg's not quite that cruel – quite", she added after a couple of reminders from past years caught up with her and made her back plates chafe,

"You still cold?" _Damn, he heard that – think of something quick. That'll do_;

"Nah, just in a hurry to get home. Look up". Big did so and saw the clouds passed over the sky, the sun reduced to streamers of golden light cracking through gaps between individual clouds,

"Looks like rain's coming". There was an explosive chuckle from beside him, Mighty glancing up at where he stood confused,

"Rain", Mighty shook her head, "in Scotland, at this time of year? No chance mate; snow we're getting tonight, and plenty of it too. Should be a good boot-filler come the morning, and just in time too". _In time_; recalling something about tomorrow being mentioned earlier in the morning, Big decided now was as good as any time to enquire,

"In time for what?"

"In time for the kids to have a bit of fun with, the big kids too come to that", the armadillo clapped her hands gleefully, a chid once more waiting for the sky to start raining feathers and carpet the ground in white, "they'll be a bit of all sorts I can tell you; making snowmen, snowball fights, the lot; can't wait".

"Me neither", Big chipped in, recalling what had happened last Christmas and idly wondering if either Sonic or Rouge still held thoughts of revenge after he'd hoodwinked the pair of them and won a snowball duel he'd never even been involved in; _if they have, they've got a long way to come this year before they can get it_; "should be a lot of fun, so I assume you-know-who never joins in?"

"Never, so it's all the more fun for the rest of us; anyway you'll have to help me this year"; _how so?_; immediately intrigued by this development Big took a lot of interest in her next words, "I refuse to believe Roddy built a better snowman than me, that was a rigged vote; you're going to have to help me get revenge on the little squit this time".

"Oh that's hardly fair, he's just a little'un – rather a cheeky and argumentative one it has to be admitted", the cat conceded before pressing forwards with another line of enquiry that had jarred in his mind for some time, "anyway, speaking of kids; I don't mean to be rude here but some thing struck me when I first saw aforementioned Cheeky and his brother, and you for that matter I suppose".

"And, er", Mighty didn't look at him directly, talk of children making the inside of her belly heat up pricklingly and sure it would only get worse if she engaged eye contact with the cat, "what would that be, apart from Roddy I take it – did you really have to dangle him like that?"

"Well I was half-tempted to do what his dad said and drop him on his head but what's done is done", Big said with a chuckle, not quite noticing what impact his words were having on his partner, "but no, what I thought was that armadillos always had twins; I mean Jess wasn't such a shock because her mum's a squirrel but Pockets and Lianne? Am I just thinking a load of old poppycock – I could swear that's what I read somewhere".

Mighty didn't answer immediately, and not just because of her sudden discomfort – she was just trying to think of what he'd said and how accurate it might have been; _we're not all twins – obviously, or I'd have a brother-stroke-sister, but if I remember rightly…well, that'll do_. Her thoughts more or less straightened out, the armadillo answered after wetting her previously parched lips with her tongue,

"Well, umm, I know wild armadillos do – don't ask me why, I was never into biology, but we don't, not all the time at least. I mean I can think of a few over time, and we've got a percentage of twin births a little higher than the average for a species, but certainly not all of us. I mean could you imagine another one of me in the world?"

"About as well as Emily could", the cat said with a smile, Mighty cocking her head in his direction at the same time as pursing her lips in a sour fashion, "but I suppose that's for the best; mum always said best to have more than one – you lot just save time and have them together". _Mum_; again that same temperature rise shot up through her; Tia's voice was so crystal clear as she spoke candidly about the childhoods of her children, the way they'd been brought up and, this was the bit that was really making her squirm, how she'd feel when she was able to know these facts of life for herself. Her gaze flickered sideways and she fought to stop a blush erupting over her face; _argh, stop thinking about him like that – he's a fantastic boyfriend, it's too early to think of him as a…a father_. More to distract herself from such thoughts than anything else the armadillo said the first thing that popped into her head, not even considering the sort of shots she might have been laying herself open for,

"And I suppose you'd have hated being an only child then? It would have been awful not having Sophie and Chloe around, annoying the living hell out of you as you grew up?"

"Well I wouldn't have missed what I'd never had, but on the other hand, I suppose I should be grateful to them really". Big struck a musing pose, fingering the fur on his chin as Mighty, flushed with recovering from her earlier, unsuspected rush of weakness, made a chronic mistake and blundered right into the trap he'd laid out for her,

"Oh really – for what? Making sure you knew the value of sharing stuff with your younger siblings?"

"Well that too, but I was thinking something else"; _now!_; unable to contain himself any longer the grin exploded onto Big's face, wide and gloating as too late Mighty sensed the trap snap shut, "like how if they hadn't been around, I might have ended up turning out like you!"

_Well at least we'll make it back to the Steppes in time for tea_; running for his life like he was Big still couldn't wipe the grin off his face as he risked looking back for an instant – yep Mighty was still on his tail, sprinting like a demon with fury blazing in her eyes as she panted for air and kept going hell-for-leather; _probably better I keep running though - where's that Green Otter when I need it?!_

XXX

Breathless as she was the air still caught in her throat as she saw the latest addition to the car park she and Big walked through to get to the main door of the hostel, where there was warmth and good hot food awaiting them; _and they can't have been here long at all, there's barely any snow settled on the windscreen. What if they're still booking in?_; the thought made her heart all but stop – she had to be ready!

"Big", pacing through the light dusting of snow that had settled on the last ten minutes or so of their walk back from the loch, he paused at her mention of his name,

"Yeah"; she hurried to catch him up, the powder whiteness crunching beneath her boot soles as she ran across the car park to where he was standing, her coat keeping the heat generated by her body trapped against her skin and beginning to stifle her,

"Sorry, just had to warn you", she took a breath, a deep one, the chill of the night air welcome relief to her fiery insides as she sought to impart this last bit of news, "someone's just arrived here, someone important you'll have to meet – come on in", rather than delay the moment she headed towards the entryway, determined not to miss the chance she might have now if she was lucky. _Right, not entirely sure how this is supposed to pan out but I'll go along with it_; not quite sure who this important guest could be and, if he was honest, curious to find out, Big followed in her footsteps towards the door, feeling with relief the rush of heat that blasted out of it as Mighty set her feet and heaved the heavy front door open; _oh my, they are here. What a shot – they're really here!_ Without another hesitation she quickly beckoned the cat forwards, clearing her throat as she moved down the stone passageways, seeing a few heads turn as she came into the light near the reception desk and returning Bekka's greeting smile,

"Hi everyone, good trip down?"

There were assembled murmurs of ascent and, realising everyone present was trying to see over her shoulder at the indistinct shape hidden behind her in the recess of the doorway Mighty forged on ahead before she lost her courage completely,

"Big, come here a second", the cat duly stepped forwards, his alert gaze sweeping the room and assembled Mobians; _wonder who's party this is – they're all pretty old…_;

"Good gracious, another feline"; the voice interrupted his thoughts and he looked over at the one who'd voiced it; _…a panther!_ And it was indeed, though there were more than a couple of silver hairs flecked around what had once been a jet-black coat, the species of the Mobian who'd addressed him was unmistakable. He was of a relatively slight build, tall and graceful despite his advancing years and the thick glasses perched precariously on the end of his long, broad nose giving him rather an owlish look as he blinked at Big, "very good – I'll speak to you sometime later sir".

"Sure you will Dave, but first of all, Big", the words stuck in her throat, he had to virtually spit them out to overcome her sudden skittishness, "I'd like you meet my nana, who everyone calls Nessie"; _Nessie?_; at first he thought of a reference to the most famous Scottish loch of all, but then a patchwork of gold and silver against a sea of black diverted his thoughts along a new path entirely; _Vanessa – oh my God this is her…_; "Nana, this is Big, my partner for…for the entire celebration and hopefully a lot longer than that".

"Hopeful", there was a hiss of hydraulics that almost drowned out the voice itself, a reedy, thin speech that seemed more hissed than spoken at all, "be more than hopeful my girl, make yourself certain of it. Now, let's have a look at you – move aside". At the command the party parted, all of what Big had fathomed were Michelle Armadillo's oldest relatives making way for one of the oldest Mobians he had ever set eyes on to roll forwards and settle into his sight.

Her face was not wrinkled, it was one massive wrinkle; Nessie seemed so old and shrivelled up by age that the wheelchair she was sat in dwarfed her like a baby sat in an armchair. One claw of a hand rested on a stick to control the direction of the automated support system, the other lingered near the mask attached to what Big assumed was an oxygen canister strapped into one of the front supports of the wheelchair, the life-giving air necessary for someone of such great age. Having seen the tapestry and, due to that, the generation gap between his girlfriend and her oldest relative Big had known Nessie must have been ancient but only now, seeing the tiny armadillo in front of his, wizened in her large wheelchair, did it finally, emotionally crash down on him. Aside from two echidnas, maybe three at a push, he had never met a Mobian who had lived as long or through so much as Nessie must have done, and she hadn't had the regenerative powers of the Master Emerald to prolong her life either.

"I see", she spoke in a voice he could barely bear before scowling, slowly bringing her oxygen mask to her face and taking a breath before attempting to speak once more, her speech much improved after the hit of pure gas, "sorry about that, my lungs aren't what they once were".

"Please never be sorry on my account", the cat assured her, hoping against hope he wouldn't make a fool out of himself this time above any others, "it's a pleasure to meet you Nessie". Her lips cracked into a grin and she nodded, answering his greeting and platitudes before swivelling her chair around to look past him,

"And likewise; Michelle, I see you're much improved over this time last year – you certainly look it". The named armadillo beamed from ear to ear, stepping forwards with pride replacing reservation as her eldest talked to her as an equal, not the child she had been not so long ago,

"I am a lot better nana, new job and whole new set of friends, including Sonic if you remember him?"

"I do I assure you", holding up a hand to stem what Big was certain would have been a tirade of news, Nessie gave a phlegmatic chuckle before wheeling herself back around, her voice issuing over the rear of her seat, "but now I am hungry and dehydrated; tell me all you have to say during and after we've all eaten".

"I can live with that; Reuben never packed any lunch for us", Mighty pouted, almost skipping along with as the older members of her family closed ranks around the back of Nessie's wheelchair and followed her towards the dining hall, an honour-guard for their clans oldest and most well-revered treasure.

A/N: Wow, huge chapter, thought I'd never get it finished. But finished it is and begun is the next one – what's more fun than Big and a family of armadillos? Big, a family of armadillos and loads and loads of snow of course! Just out of interest though, a little challenge for the Sega history buffs out there; mentioned in this chapter was a character that was meant to be in a Sega game but never was, it turned out to be a hoax in the end – which character was that? Answers/guesses in the review section please (and no, the answer isn't Mina!)


	10. Chapter 10 Friends All Rowland

Chapter 10 – Friends All Round.

A/N: Sorry it's been a while but the Rugby World Cup kicked off; okay England are playing like a pack of beached whales but it's still exciting to see where the tin pot ends up this time. Anyway, looks like the old question last time caused a little confusion; let's clear it up here and now:

Ri2 – The character in question was the Green Otter itself; sorry, it was a bit of a trick question – let me explain. Just before Sonic and Knuckles was released for the Mega Drive there was a bit of a buzz about this 'new' character that was supposedly unlockable and hidden in the background of one of the game screens; he was supposed to be a green otter-like creature. As it turned out it was a bit of a hoax (I think the shots they had of him were old drawing of Knuckle in character development) but it didn't stop me and my friends from being clustered around the monitor trying to spot the otter and win the £1,000 prize our local games magazine had promised for the first person to find him and prove where he was!

Big would have liked to have been the one to hold the doors open for the rest to arrive but his great girth prevented him from slipping around the side of the gathering as he would have liked; instead it fell to Mighty, easily the youngest and most agile of her family present, to announce the arrival of most of her family's upper echelons to the rest of her family that had arrived,

"Evening everyone"; _this must be a bit of an event, Nessie showing up with the others_; that much Big was able to fathom out from the note of solemnity in his girlfriends' voice, a marked departure from her normally breezy 'hi all', "nana's here". Caught a little flat-footed as everyone else moved suddenly, the overlarge cat suddenly found himself having to compress his body to stay out of sight as the rest of Mighty's older relatives moved aside, a miniature Red Sea parting to allow, with a mechanical hiss as the wheelchair kicked into life, an ancient and venerable Moses to walk along its length where the rest of her followers sat massing. Even from the side of the corridor where he was having to view proceedings, Big's height easily afforded him a clear view of what was going on as Nessie's hand twitched away from where it had been gently guiding her chair forwards; with barely a ripple to upset her balance she rocked to a halt, the hood of her shell weaving left and right like the hood of a cobra transfixing its next meal as Nessie returned to her ancestral home and took in what had become of her children.

The silence descended so slowly Big almost saw it falling across the hallway like a blanket; first those closest to the entrance saw their latest arrival and fell quiet, the stillness jumping from them to their neighbours in a chain that ran the length of the hallway. Even the waiters and other staff, arms laden with orders for the ravenous avalanche plundering the Highland Steppes' larders for all they were worth, paused in their rushing around as the ancient armadillo's presence swept all the clamour before away under an ocean of quiet – calm and unhurriedly, much like Nessie herself as far as the cat could see, almost the entirety of Michelle Armadillo's family gazed in awe as the matriarch of their clan wheeled herself forwards to complete the annual homecoming. It was a moment that almost brought a tear to Big's eye at the same time it made his heart swell; a proud moment, an enduring legacy that no matter the distances between them, despite the differences that marked the individual members apart emotionally as much as physically, a family encompassed all, forgave all and, eventually, embraced all that made it what it was. In the silence that seemed to stretch forever Big realised the profound truth; _it's all petty squabbling – even the ones like Gavin and Stefan, okay they don't like each other but they're still here, and neither of them would miss it no matter how much they might say otherwise_. Just for the briefest instant, when all Mobians in the room stood united together Big stood with them, solid on his feet as a rooted Scottish oak tree and his gaze turned to Mighty's place, hot breath sticking in his throat as it finally came to him how much something like this meant to her, how hard she'd had to work to make sure she could be a part of it every year and just how much it had meant she'd had to trust him to join her on this journey back to her family's bosom. _There's no way I can pay back something like this – to be here, now, there's just no feeling in the world quite like it. I could be here forever…_

At that point, Roddy moved.

…_or not, as the case may be!_

Despite his irritation at his almost spiritual moment being disrupted Big simply couldn't be angry at the armadillo who's yell of delight had shattered it; virtually incoherent with joy, the little tearaway hurled himself under the table he was sat at with his family, nearly upended a young waiter as he cannoned into his shins and then, finally engaging his on-board guidance system, sprinted towards where his; _forget it, it's not worth even trying to count the greats_; aunt sat waiting. The entire hostel seemed to hold its breath, Big squinting and trying desperately to look away despite the malign force that had seized the back of his neck and was making him watch the entire proceeding as Roddy ploughed towards his relative, unstoppable as a freight train for one of Nessie's years. The collision was impending, unavoidable; the juvenile armadillo was losing speed, almost moving in slow motion in fact but there was no way he was going to be able to halt himself in time completely. Big winced internally, bracing for impact in the same way he'd hoped Nessie had; her hand twitched, he saw the motion in the second of utter stillness before Roddy smashed into her headlong; with a virtually soundless whirr her chairs glided backwards and Big allowed himself to breathe again, joined by the rest of the hall letting out a collective sigh of relief as the extra distance allowed the sprinting youngster the chance to complete his tumble towards a halt. Indeed Big watched on half-impressed as it seemed athleticism ran throughout Mighty's family; Roddy did tumble literally to slow himself down; throwing himself forwards into a roll the friction of his shell on the stone floor slowed him down markedly – he came easily to his feet after a couple of rotations, looking a little woozy but none the worse for wear a few feet from where Nessie sat awaiting him. _What I wouldn't give to see her face now_; living like he did the cat hadn't garnered many material possessions but those he did have he'd have been willing to gamble that the expression on the face of his girlfriend's oldest relative would have made an almost perfect picture for the story of how the old viewed the young; _I could call it 'How Does the Other Half Live', or something like that. Ah but I didn't see it – so what, plenty of time in the future I'm sure_; banishing the wistful regret to the back of his mind with a mental shrug, Big engaged his brain in time to see the most important phase of the youngster's journey; the completion,

"Hiya Aunt Nessie", bounding over to the older armadillo as he was, Big felt his earlier judgements of Roddy soften like candle wax brought close to a blast furnace; he might have been brash and hot-headed like a lot of kids his age but there was no denying the eager enthusiasm in both the youngster's tone of voice and almost puppyish expression, "have a good trip down, I heard the roads were getting bad? Do you want a cup of tea – you like milk and two sugars, or is it three I can't remember…"

"Hold hard"; _amazing – now that really is a mother, and grandmother, thing_; those two simple words brought the hall to a standstill and choked off Roddy's rushed speech as effectively as if his tongue had been splinted, "I'm not here two minutes and you're all over me? Good", Big guessed the occupant of the wheelchair in the room smiled, the expression reflected and magnified a hundred-fold on the face of her grandson several generations removed, "when you get to my age you need a bit of pampering. And it is three, so make yourself useful and get one of the wai…wa-hhhaayyy…"

Once more Big found himself part of the collective movement; every member of the hall stayed in their seat as the eldest present suddenly folded forwards in her chair, a bout of wheezing grabbing her chest as she spluttered for breath. Mighty was ahead of him but he still lunged forwards, desperate to lend any help he was able to at such short notice; with horror slowly mounting in his eyes he saw Roddy, face white as whey where it had recently been glowing with enthusiasm, paralysed before his grandmother's throne of antiquity.

"Nana!" The panicked shout made everyone jump, Roddy most of all despite the fact he'd given voice to it, but in this case the adrenaline shot seemed to snap him out of his stupor. His hand shot forwards and for a lunatic second Big was certain his raw strength had ripped the oxygen canister straight out of its moorings; the sight of the child thrusting only the breathing mask of the life-giving ensemble towards where Nessie sat obviously gasping for it the only thing that allowed him to breathe again himself. _All right, panic over_; in painful motion matched in sluggishness only by his body's refusal to heed his command to relax now Nessie had the medicine she needed, the cat breathed easily once more as the armadillo in question took the mask from her frantic relative; _just keep an eye out in case_. The mask came forwards, Nessie's breathing easing all the time; the entire hall was so still that the gasp of outrage that suddenly hissed from Roddy's open mouth echoed for long minutes, drowned out only by his next moan,

"Na-nnaaaaa…" _Now that was cruel_; just from the laughter clicking intermittently from over the back of the venerable armadillo's chair Big realised Nessie had been playing them all like fiddles; _effective I have to admit, but cruel_. With a last cackle of the giggle the oxygen mask was replaced in its normal position at the front of the chair, Nessie's hand then passing from her throne to where Roddy was stood glaring venomously at her. A glare that lasted all of two seconds as the merest touch of Nessie's wrinkled paw on the side of his face seemed to drain all the belligerence out of him; stepping forwards, mindful all the time that even as young as he was he could seriously hurt his nana if he squeezed her like he squeezed his mum and dad, he shared a ginger embrace with his favourite Christmas angel.

"Sorry about that Roddy; forgive an old woman her little joke", coming a little closer Big was able to make out a couple more details from over the back of the wheelchair Nessie was bound to, a strange sort of smile edging onto his face as he saw the shells of the two armadillos almost overlapping above their foreheads, Nessie leaning forwards in her seat to give the youngster she'd just terrified a proper hug; it was the same smile he always had whenever he saw Cream and Vanilla close together and obviously acting as a family. As he watched on both embracers murmured words too soft for him to catch before slowly the younger of the pair stepped back, looking down and blinking away where he must have had some dust in his eyes as Nessie looked above and beyond him, her weathered lips looking like a pair of dried chamois leathers as she revelled in the trick she'd just pulled on the rest of her relations,

"Well, what are you all doing gawping like the poor fish Reuben'll drag out of Loch Gellie come the twenty-fourth? Not going to say good day to your old nana are you – ha, think again; I'm here now, and I'll see you all again no matter how you try to avoid me!"

XXX

Mere moments later the sheer scale of how wrong Nessie assumption had been; not one armadillo, and very few humans for that matter either, were even attempting to avoid Nessie as she guided her wheelchair forwards with a steady, only slightly trembling hand – the sheer scale of the greeting was almost taking his breath away. In the ruck of bodies it was almost impossible to tell but he was sure he could see even Edward come out of his shell a little way to say hello to the old guard who had arrived with Nessie herself; it seemed that the old two-table rule was null and void tonight as everyone seemed to press forwards in concert, faces familiar and new to the cat surfacing for seconds at a time before being swallowed by the general scrum. After a couple of seconds of observation he simply gave up trying to recognise armadillos and simply headed towards the nearest seat, flumping down into it a second later, grateful for the rest as he reclined to watch the rest of the proceedings, Mighty long lost to his vision as she'd ploughed into the mix with wild abandon.

"So, proof you do have a head on your shoulders"; _oh what?_; to his credit Big appeared to do nothing more than close his eyes slowly though internally he was lamenting his lack of foresight as the voice he'd come to associate with a hard time in general slithered into his ear like a malicious eel; _why didn't I check before I sat down?_; "make your introductions after the rest of the rabble gets itself gone; less hassle then, and a good deal more dignity".

"Actually Stefan I made my introductions in the hallway, Michelle timed it to a nicety when we got back, Nessie had just pulled up". From the corner of his eye he was sure he saw the misanthropic armadillo's face screw up for a second as once more his memory didn't let him down and he used the proper name for Stefan's daughter, though he'd left a slight gap in his defences that the grey-shelled armadillo exploited without hesitation,

"Her name is Vanessa cat; Nessie is the mythical thing that supposedly lives at the bottom of Loch Ness and, amazing as it sounds, even she isn't quite that old". Following his finger Big saw the front end of a wheelchair emerge slowly from the press, the armadillo steering it shielded from the worst excesses of the family crush as, with the rush of emotion from the first sight of ancient relatives starting to diminish, everyone began to settle down a little again. For his part the cat gave a grunt and shrugged his huge shoulders, folding his arms to try and disguise where the tips of his claws were starting to slip involuntarily out of his gloves as his temper began to get the better of him under the influence of Stefan's axle-grinding voice,

"That's what it says on the tapestry over there", he nodded in the general direction of the back wall, "and, as that was part of this family an awful lot earlier than you were, I'll stick with what it says if you don't mind".

"I…", the armadillo disguised his second's hesitation with a cough, Big not even bothering to conceal the edge of his smile as he realised he'd managed to wrong-foot the obnoxious armadillo again, "…I take no interest in such things; if some people want to be associated with things below them in the grand scheme of things then that's their prerogative. I just find it unbearably common myself"; _so_; Big confirmed another suspicion as he heard those words issue from Stefan's mouth; _a snob as well as an control-freak – you really do tick all the boxes when it comes to hard to get with don't you?_

"Well in that case you can call me common as muck then", the ghost light shone in Stefan's eyes before, timing the movement to perfection, Big waved into someone just escaping from the crush of armadillos as it gradually began to peter out and separate, "and very grateful to be so as it got me in with a crowd of commoners like this". The pale glower of superiority dimmed as suddenly as it had been lit, a scowl besmirching Stefan's lips as, faced by the imminent arrival of his wife he was unable to counteract the cat's statement without Emily being able to overhear him and draw her own conclusions as to what they'd been discussing recently. Completely unaware of such veiled threats and insults being played out over her shoulder, Emily came to face them once more, breathing slightly more heavily than before as the excitement that had coursed through her as the reunion commenced began to earth itself, leaving her drained but elated as she suddenly ducked down under the tablecloth. In the few seconds before his wife resurfaced next to him Stefan's expression was a peach; smirk properly back in place now as he saw his rival's pride laid low by his own flesh and blood, Big waved as Emily took her seat back, smoothing the recently-ruffled tablecloth back to full smoothness as she reached for her utensils,

"Hi Emily", she nodded in his direction, a smile on her face that he'd not seen there before; _good – for the first time now she really is back where she belongs_; "bit of a crowd now; how much you can miss in four or so hours?"

"Too right, especially when this lot are concerned", she gestured with her knife towards the rest of her extended family, the flat edge of the blade smeared in golden butter as she slathered half a bread roll in the liquid sunshine, "most of them rolled in about an hour, hour and a half after you'd gone. Anyway, don't get too comfortable you; little job for you in a minute after everyone's finished eating".

"Ah yes", somehow Stefan's sudden snicker didn't do a lot to make Big feel any more comfortable about what was coming, "I nearly forgot, the yearly grilling can begin now the main judge and jury's here. Good luck Big", the armadillo's tone, not to mention the fact he'd actually addressed the cat by name, made it appear he was sincere but the malice in his gloating smile solidified the fact that he was anything but, "before that little panel up there, you've got until the end of dinner to explain what you're doing here and, more importantly, why you should even have bothered to come in the first place".

XXX

_Okay, could still use a little inspiration here_; in sickening slow motion he saw a couple of figures from the other table rise and knew, was instinctively sure that this was the time Stefan had malevolently alluded to. In the heat of the moment he was more aware than ever before of the heat chafing beneath the blanket of his winter fur, the sweat in generated prickling maddeningly as he was unable to get rid of it without drawing unwanted attention to himself. His heartbeat sounded like it was coming from a long way away, tolling in the distance like someone hitting a temple gong with a war hammer as he ponderously pushed his chair backwards, the squeaking noise the legs made abominably loud in the sudden stillness that had descended on them all. But the only way to go was forwards; drawing on the strength of his memories, of Amy standing so tall as she'd clutched the Chaos Emerald he'd found in the moments before her final battle with the former master of the Dark Legion itself, of Cream declaring fiercely that her failure would be the mother of her success as she'd sat in his home with her instructor nodding in agreement to train her further, the rabbit determined to pass her ALT at the second time of asking even as her failure to make the grade first time round gnawed her bitterly, and soldiered on. His sights were set on the table that had, he only now noticed, been set up at the head of the hall itself, a new addition that allowed its occupants to oversee all before them, a host of genial ancestors watching over their assorted descendents.

It seemed that all other noise dimmed in his ears as he concentrated solely on putting one foot in front of the other, his vision tunnelling until all he could see was the collection of Mobians he was heading towards, barely aware of someone at his elbow as, somehow, the distance suddenly ended and he found himself having to come to an ungainly, abrupt halt in order not to end up ramming the table back into the laps of those he'd come to greet. A little disorientated by his forwards drive suddenly reaching its end he groped for something else to help maintain his focus and stop him heeding his instincts and bolting for the door in a flat-out panic; _oh, that's not too bad_; the flutter of apprehension in his gut died down a little as a flash of black fur caught his eye in the press of armadillos arranged before him; _at least I'm not the only cat here_. Of course irony dictated that the second he should see something even vaguely reassuring, something else would occur to send him leaping skywards with his heart hammering in his chest; as a little light-hearted laughter swept around the hall at his predicament and he grasped a hand over his chest, straining to recapture the breath that had escaped from him explosively Paula, her baby cradled in her arms and apparently oblivious to the commotion she'd left in her wake as she'd brushed against him, approached the main table brazenly, free from fear and reservation,

"Hello again Nessie". The squirrel's voice was grave at the same time as relieved at seeing, if not her oldest relation, certainly her oldest contact in Samson's family and the reply, given a second after the armadillo had taken a breath from her oxygen mask again, easily let Big know that her sentiments were more than reciprocated,

"And you once more young Paula, and who's this you bring to our table this year? One Jezebel I hear, unless my old ears have been mistaken?" Big was certain he wasn't the only one having to struggle to keep a straight face as Paula's brush ruffled itself up angrily, a sure sign that the Mobian it was attached to was losing her grip on her irritation as she growled back through clenched teeth,

"Not mistaken Ness; just, shall we say, misled? My little girl is called Jess; no harlots in my family thank you very much, nor yours either come to that". With that the squirrel swung the burden in her arms up and around, guiding her daughter to the table-top with all the dexterity her species was famous for; scant seconds later Jess was sat on the table itself, her mother's hands around the shell of her middle and burbling up at the grandmother who had at least a century on her in terms of age.

"I should hope not, but mentioning my family", Nessie's voice raised slightly; Big was certain her next comments were spoken at someone else as much as they were spoken to Paula herself, "have there been any developments in that area at all, or is he still as useless as he's always been at organising himself?" The squirrel laughed; _you'd better cringe Sam – nothing to do with me this one, you brought it down on your own head_;

"Him? Organisation? The words 'knees-up' and 'brewery' spring to mind – need I say more?"

"Not in the slightest. Anyway, who are you little sweetness?" Though he was almost directly behind the proud mother herself, Big's height allowed him to see the action on the tabletop in front of him; obviously deciding the strange thing in front of her was more interesting than just sitting still and doing nothing, Jess had taken it upon herself to crawl forwards towards Nessie's seat. Her eldest grandmother stretched out a quavering paw in reciprocation and Big felt part of himself melt away as the baby's hand met that of Nessie, the wheelchair-bound armadillo somehow able to hold her arm steady as Jess began to clamber up it, a support for her to lean on as she tried to make it all the way up to her feet. However in this she was to be denied; reaching forwards, Paula gripped hold of her baby's shell, taking the strain from Nessie's age-withered limb at the same time as chastising her daughter lovingly,

"Now then Jess, that'll do; your nana's not a climbing frame, that's what dad's for". There was a muted rumbling of laughter from the choir of armadillos still sat around the two main tables of the hallway, the chorus joined by Jess herself as Nessie tickled her stomach with the hand she'd been recently leaning on. As Paula half-carried, half-dragged the tiny infant back to the cradle of her arms Nessie sat back, the smile of a mother many times over adorning her face as she nodded at the squirrel quietly shushing her baby; removed from her aunt as she had been Jess was starting to kick up a squall,

"A fine little girl Paula, I'm only sorry I won't be able to darn her in her proper place; you've every right to be proud of her. And you Samson", in the stillness of the Steppes even Nessie's cracked voice seemed to echo for long minutes; Big risked a glance over his shoulder but was unable to see any more than confused swirl of faces, completely unable to pick the father out in the press, "a good child you have now, look after her right you hear me?"

"Aye nana", Big was certain he heard the answering armadillo swallow as he replied but didn't dare take a look this time to spare Samson any more embarrassment, "she's, no, both those girls are mine now, I'll see them right whatever it takes from me. One of them's rough and tough enough to look after herself but you know how it is; these squirrels just can't cut it as far as we armadillos go. Er, sorry love, only joking", shoulders shaking Big joined in the general laughter at Samson's expense, though having seen the chill promise in his partner's face as she'd turned around and looked past him to wherever the snide armadillo had sat he fully understood why he'd quickly made that get-out clause. The cat rapidly sobered up once more, however, as he looked forwards and realised that the whole of the front table was silent and anticipating the next newcomer to stand before them; _and now Jess is done_; his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth as tackily as if it had been super-glued there, it took a supreme effort of will to rip it free even as his lamentable train of thought reached its final destination bearing its tidings of nervous woe; _doesn't that just leave me standing here looking pretty?_;

"Go on", a low whisper from the side of him almost made him physically jump; whipping his head around and trying to swallow his heart back to where it really belonged, thumping away in his chest rather than lodged up in his throat and choking his attempts to recapture his breath, the cat's mind boggled as he caught sight of a shock of hair even more violently purple than his own; _how'd I miss her – she's right next to me for goodness sake_. Unfortunately he had no time to query either the mongoose stood to the side of him, nor the armadillo stood to her other side, a quiet-looking individual who somehow looked older than he had any natural right to, aged before his time as Big realised he must have been Mina's guardian of a sort. _Guardian, that'll do – how would Knuckles handle something like this?_; recalling the stoic echidna's unyielding determination in the face of all adversity Big tried his hardest to mimic it, trying to visualise the Mobians awaiting his slow, shuffling approach as potential friends rather than an impatient jury keen to pick faults with any defence he might have mustered about being attracted to one of their descendents. His eyes rested on David, the panther not directly looking at him as he exchanged a few whispered pleasantries with the armadillo on his left but acting as a source of strength nevertheless, a toe-hold for Big's courage to cling to desperately and avoid running away screaming for what was looming large in front of him. The journey seemed to stretch into infinity, the table was half a continent away at the same time as stand directly before him; the exertions to get there left his shaking physically with the effort, blowing away all thoughts for fine wordplay and leaving him with nothing but the most basic language of all to introduce himself to the expectant gathering,

"Umm, hi everyone, I'm, or that's to say, my name's Big, and I'm a cat; Mighty brought me here".

_What the hell did I just say?_; who'd put that sort of drivel in his mouth, which mischievous imp of wordplay had flitted between his lips and ensured words as inane and stupid as those had bee heard by these Mobians, these Mobians he simply had to impress? He was certain that even the thickened fur on his cheeks wouldn't be able to disguise the forest fire raging underneath them, his blush must have been visible from space with the naked eye; any second now there was going to be a hurricane of laughter whipped up with him right in the middle of it and all he could do was brace himself, hoping against hope the experience wouldn't stir the murk right at the bottom of his memory, the sludge that his time with Mighty and the rest of his friends in the aftermath of what had happened following Metal Sonic's attack had helped to bury almost for good, when there had been rage in his heart and blood, both real from the robot and mnemonic from the bully that had pushed him too far, on his claws again. It was almost like being back at school once more, his pride swelling up as the cloth began to fall to reveal his first great masterpiece only to be crushed eternally, left mortally wounded forever as the thick, black lines stabbed into it as evilly as they had scoured the art from the canvas now in plain view of all his peers and teachers. All his mind had to be trained in on forgetting that part, grappling and pinning the emotions down until he could vent them elsewhere; he was so engrossed in preparing for the struggle, so mentally prepared for the engagement ahead that he completely overlooked the silence around him lengthening, not into an ominous spectre ready to cleave him with the scythe of mockery, but more an accepting, wistful sort of spirit, understanding of his nerves about his first time here, adopted temporarily into this new, alien family. It was only when Nessie herself spoke once more that this simple truth dawned on his grimly prepared, fractious mental state,

"So it would seem she did", the second's pause the armadillo gave as she reached for her oxygen mask once more was a life-saver; it allowed Big time to relax for just that little longer before she managed to breathe down her medicine and carry on in her melodious, croaking voice, "and from what I've heard a good choice it was. How long have you been together now then?"

"Um, not, er, not all that long really, only about four or five months now".

"And you came here", obviously that answer had generated a fair amount of interest as several of the other members of this panel looked at each other from the sides of their eyes, speaking in low, very hushed whispers as the head of their table spoke on, more cold calculation in her tone now, "you're a brave Mobian to wager so much after that sort of time; I trust you she told you how much of a battleaxe some of us could be at times?" _Actually she kept that one quiet_; jarred by the reminder Big was itching just to look over his shoulder and glare at his girlfriend, punish her with his eyes for not telling him what was awaiting him north of the border; _though, think about it – maybe there's a way I can do something to redress the situation. A couple of myths never hurt anyone, least of all when they're sort of true to start with_. Something like a plan starting to ferment away merrily in his mind, Big looked up at the table once more, hoping that he was keeping his intentions masked from Nessie's laconic glance but realising that, against someone with such life experience, any hope in that regard was probably going to be fairly forlorn at the best of times,

"I think I was so flattered by the invitation I just said yes without thinking about it; she might have mentioned a couple of other things but I was so glad of a date I guess I wasn't really listening", with a shrug and clasping his hands behind his back, Big somehow managed to look chastised and insolent all at once as he raised his voice without looking around, "let that be a lesson to you children; always keep your ears open for the small print when reaching a deal with someone or it'll always come around and bite you in the tail". There were a couple of good-natured chuckles from the crowd and Big was much heartened to see even Nessie herself smile a little before she banished the expression without so much as a blink,

"But from what I'd heard we should have expected bravery from you Big, who was meant to be Bill, named after his father"; _Christ she knows more about me than I do!_; "you stepped in to save a stranger…" Just this once Big broke one of the rules of his manners and interrupted someone's speech in full flow,

"Yeah, I mean if he'd actually gone and tried anything, yeesh, I hate to think what Mighty might have done to the poor sap. Can't stand the sight of blood myself". There was more light laughter from the audience but Nessie, having dipped her forehead in deference to his speech and perhaps realising that this wasn't an area he liked to dwell on, moved on swiftly,

"…and it's landed you here; out of the frying pan and into the fire you might say".

"Too right", feeling the confidence flow back into him with every passing second Big felt himself begin to shed his terrible nerves, backing up his declaration with a cheeky wink in Nessie's direction, "still I suppose here's better than any frying pan I've ever been in, especially when Mighty's trying to cook with it. If there's one regret I've ever got about building a house out of wood it's when I said those immortal words; 'frying fish – easy as falling off a log'". Big was certain he could feel the force of Mighty's Look focussed squarely on the back of his neck but the gales of laughter being generated at the expense of her culinary skills dissipated it to the extent he was able to hear Nessie's answer without cringing too much. _Aha, at last_; it had been subtle but there was no way he'd have missed it – his heart leapt for joy, the imp currently possessing it in order to mock his girlfriend gently cackling its hymn of mischief as he saw the venerable armadillo's eyebrows rise; _an ally ready to give the ego of one Michelle Kelly Isabelle Armadillo a good pruning_;

"True enough, true enough – as far as our men-folk are all concerned the greatest invention of Man and Mobian-kind wasn't fire, or the spear, it was the microwave. Saved them more cases of belly-ache than we could count all fingers and toes here combined, not that it stops them belly-aching anyway, that's just how men are".

"Some of them I grant you but I'm not one to complain, not if there's food in the offering anyway", Big said, both thumbs tucking into his belt buckle and hitching it up in defence of that point; he held the pose and the pause for just an instant longer before relaxing and leaning forwards, voice a carrying whisper, "it's just that if Mighty ever offered to cook I made sure I was sat next to the window; 'pass the salt dear'", he mimed throwing something over his shoulder before looking forwards again, a passable impression of Mighty on his lips, "'my you must have been hungry, but why's that tree out there just shrivelled up and died?' – 'Oh I don't know, when it's time it's time I guess'…"

That was the straw that broke the camel's back; though most of the family managed to just about restrain themselves there was no way any of them were going to be able to argue the toss about him being allowed to stay in the Steppes over the holiday. Strangely enough, rather than Nessie as he'd expected, it was David who seemed to be the best able to keep his head on the head table; the oldest present was taking periodic breath of oxygen between bouts of giggling her head off madly. He stood in a hurricane of laughter and didn't care a button, in fact he welcomed it, the noise lifting him up and away from the mocking crowd he'd left behind in another life, the one he'd had before Mighty had crashed into his solitary, penitent existence like a rogue comet, blowing it apart with almost the same sort of cosmic force. It was ironic but what had gone around had come around once more; the thought echoed in his mind, a pleasing symmetry for him to visualise before with a start he came back to the present, Nessie's voice once more the catalyst for his return,

"Time is time is right", she managed to choke out before having to resort to another gasp of life-giving gas before continuing, "I'll bet what remains of my life that she didn't have to persuade you hard to get you here". Big nodded at the assumption – if anything it had been the other way around as he remembered it,

"True enough; though you might not believe it she can be quite persuasive when she has to be". A wolf-whistle broke the silence he'd left in his speech, another voice adding the next verbal cut more cleanly than he could have ever managed,

"Attagirl Might"; _Gavin, that just has to be Gavin_; if he hadn't been sure of the voice itself the words made the cat's mind up for him, "do what it takes to get your man; wit, words and womanly wiles, it's all above board in the game of love. Maybe not all above the belt, but that's another story".

Big cringed even as a couple of snickers broke through the deadlock of his lips; if Mighty had been in a foul mood with his earlier comments those ones were going to have her utterly thunderous by the time he retook his seat. A time that he instinctively understood was approaching; he'd said enough, that was clear, but manners dictated that he wait until he was dismissed before retaking his original seat and garner the seal of approval that Nessie and Nessie alone could doubtless bestow on his presence here at the gathering of her family,

"That's enough of that young Gavin", a suddenly stern tone silenced everyone who had been making their feelings, jovial or otherwise, known about the aforementioned armadillo's earlier comments, "what's gone on between the two of them is their own affair. Now then though Big, it'll be a pleasure to have you", turning to him once more Nessie inclined her head, her smile suffused with a grace and bearing that only comes with great age and wisdom, "I can see you shaking things up a little around here, and not just when you fall out of bed in the morning either". _Oh very funny – mind you, I suppose I was due a joke at my expense this time around_; the cat said nothing at this final pun, instead rolling his eyes and with an air of exemplary dignity retracing his steps back to his seat. Just for a second he saw a final glimpse of Mina's face, pale and scared even if she held tightly onto the hand of her guardian as she realised there was no-one left between her and the introduction to the upper echelons of the family she'd been adopted into; he gave a supportive smile in the instant he had to see her in before his attention had to be diverted to finding his way back to his seat and gearing himself for the momentous task of greasing his way back into Mighty's charitable grace and favours again.

XXX

Just how difficult that was going to be he only realised when, having headed back towards his seat he was greeted not only by Gavin standing up and walking towards him boldly, face wreathed in smiles as he for one decided he'd liked the cat's first speech, but over his shoulder the blank, unforgiving wall of Mighty's shell as she'd turned her head away from him, miffed at his comments about her culinary skills.

"Now that", Big's attention was diverted from thinking ways of weaselling his way into her affections once more as a strong hand grabbed half of one of his own, Gavin speaking as he shook the cat's hand, "that was genius, pure and utter genius. I've not heard someone stand up there like that since, well, put simply I haven't heard anyone stand up there and speak like that; have you ever considered stand-up as a career option? Lines like that will take you far, I guarantee it".

"So I've heard", Big's reply was a little distracted; Mighty still hadn't looked at him and that must have meant she really was ticked off, "but it's not funny to everyone". Someone else seized on these words as if waiting for them; glancing down, the cat saw the armadillo leading him back to his seat freeze and close his eyes; _just as well he's only mouthing words like that – she might be up for a bit of jibing here and there but I'm not sure Nessie would tolerate those sorts of swearwords_;

"Very true", calling across from three of four seats up from his daughter, Stefan's tone only seemed to be happier than before, the sight of his daughter giving her companion the cold shoulder seeming to cheer him immensely, "I'm certain my daughter appreciated your comments on her cooking about as much as I did when you called her Mighty; I only have a single daughter and her name is Michelle. Don't forget it again; once can be excused by a slovenly memory, twice is just stupidity".

"Or pig-headedness, something you'd know all about I'm sure Stevie", once more Big tensed himself to push Gavin aside as Stefan glowered, hands curling into fists as his brother-in-law's tongue whipped at his sense of propriety inexcusably. His relief when he realised two things in quick succession; that Emily was close enough at hand to take an interest in proceedings sat between the two feuding family members, and that Gavin obvious realised that as well and must have been less than keen to go through another impromptu nose job, knew no bounds. Rather than risk sparking another confrontation and testing his sister's straining patience again, the eldest sibling in her immediate family said no more, merely retaking his own place after giving Big a fortifying wink and gesturing to where his niece was sat studiously avoiding him. Trying to think two moved ahead at very short notice, the cat tapped his fingers together and made a brave attempt at conversation, clearing his throat before he began speaking,

"Hmm, well I guess I could fit in quite well here after all". The armadillo grunted; Big tried again,

"Looks like Nessie and the others appreciate a joke or two here and there; you know I was only joking right?" Another grunt; _okay, I tried to be nice_; with a shrug Big braced himself for what he had to do next; _but you just forced me to wheel out the heavy artillery_;

"Are you going to talk to me at all, or are you just going to sit there groaning all night because I got nervous on the big stage? Come on I was only kidding, you can cook as well as I can; tell you what", the cat clapped his hands together as though making an extremely generous offer, "I'll say sorry here and now and you start acting as though you do have some proper words in your vocabulary, what d'ya say to that?" _Aha, we have movement_; it was slow and it was gradual but Mighty was definitely shifting towards him, both her muscular arms folded across herself so tightly she might have been bound in a straight-jacket. Her lips were thinner than thin, the scowl they formed together could have cut like a razor-edged snake's tongue as the jade eyes above them bored into the cat with apparently depthless malice. But all was not lost; behind the scorn and derision the armadillo was wordlessly hurling in his direction the cat was almost sure he'd could see a seed of humour lying dormant; testing himself he made to water it, help it grow and crack through the false despise Mighty had layered on top of it like asphalt on a road but, astonishingly, Mighty beat him to it. With a crack like a tectonic plate rupturing her lips broke apart, a deep rumbling the precursor to words erupting forth, a scathingly hot verbal magma to send him scurrying backwards, well and truly singed,

"Naff off", even her tone was a grinding grate, gravely and somehow even more threatening as she shifted her vision to just over his shoulder, stifling the smirking Gavin with a smouldering stare, "you and all".

With that and a final haughty toss of her head she spun back around in her seat, arms crossed and legs folded, back as unyielding as tank armour as she steadfastly swore to herself again that she was not going to let the sneaky, impudent feline worm his way back into her good books tonight; as far as she was concerned for now, he was definitely in the doghouse along with Knuckles. She could feel more than hear or see him moving behind her and huddled down deeper, face a carved mask and strangely almost grateful as her father for once came down on her side with his snide gallows humour, another lash to torment the cat with.

"Oh dear master cat"; _no, he is not dear at this moment – in fact if I could I'd be giving him away now_; "it seems that the path of true love has gone rocky for the moment. In fact, I'd be tempted to say that with a couple of poor comments out there, you just ran yourself into a cliff face".

"Maybe I did", she shivered a touch, a crack in her defences that she immediately filled in with emotional cement; he must have been right behind her, his breath tickled her ear, "but, luckily for me, I have just the trick to get me out of situations like this". She tensed, ready for anything he could say; her shoulder was grabbed suddenly, the hall spinning around her – her limbs were too well knotted together to untangle in time, by the time she could do anything to stop the cat pulling her around it was too late. All she could see before her was a field of purple dotted with two pools of liquid cinnamon, it came too close, much too close and far too fast; she closed her eyes, resolve splintering under a sudden fear of explosive contact, then pressure as there had been only a few times before, sweet, loving, gentle pressure – her reaction had never been in doubt, the same as it always had been and in all probability always would be.

XXX

Logically Mighty knew the reason cats didn't kiss very often; it was more for her safety than anything else. Big was still naturally carnivorous, though admittedly only to a very refined, polite degree, but nature had dictated he be given all the tools needed for shredding meat and pulling apart flesh from bone at the scene of a kill. His teeth without exception were very sharp and potentially very dangerous; designed to rip out throats and drown prey in its own blood as crushed veins and arteries spilt their precious red cargo into wheezing, gargling lungs, an armadillo's lip or tongue would have been literally easy meat. However, a rare thing is not the same as a non-existent thing; as far as she could tell what made the kisses she shared with Big so special in their own right was the fact that they didn't come along very often and for that reason had to be savoured to the fullest degree – not even something as set in stone as a grudge was really able to come between them at a time like that, a time like now.

The icy prison he'd tried to bury her heart in didn't just melt, it was flashed to instant steam; her fists flailed spasmodically against the front and flank of her boyfriend once weakly, then a second time with even less energy before finally giving up on trying to hit him at all and settling for grabbing a handful of his fur and using it as a anchor point to drag herself in closer to the cat himself. Her eyes rolled up in their socket behind their closed lids, sheer delirium forcing her to half-stand, her chair rocking backwards as she met the cat at the halfway point between her standing fully and him squatting down, finally able to throw an arm around him properly the armadillo did so, her flexing of her muscles there helping to pull her in closer as her hand travelled up, hoping to make it around Big's neck before the signal of need her lungs were sending her became too urgent.

Suddenly, all too soon as far as her opinion went, the kiss broke, Big standing tall and heaving in a deep breath; unable to let go quickly enough Mighty was dredged upwards, rolling on her heels as she finally lost her grip around his back. For a mad moment the world span in her vision, her own chest fluttering like a pair of forge bellows, re-oxygenating her and allowing the rest of her senses to switch back online. The skin of her face was hot, far too hot and prickly; if she wasn't bathed in perspiration she'd be amazed, and her vision appeared a little blurred, mouth still open in equal part shock at Big's uncharacteristic action, amazement that he'd actually had the nerve to go through with it and embarrassment that, right here and now in front of virtually every armadillo in the world that she could claim kinship with, she had been well and truly French-kissed.

As her startled brain finally managed to get that message across to the rest of her she felt heat under her collar once again, the shell-bursts of colour and heat on her face not aided as her ears tremulously pointed out that what had just happened was getting quite a response from the rest of her family. She couldn't discern who was clapping in the milling throng and the lack of voices involved in a wolf-whistle or two denied her the ability to identify the audience to her most recent violation; all she had to go on was the big cheese himself, the one who'd actually perpetrated the crime. Bunching her fists once more, dimly seeing her mother in the background trying unsuccessfully to keep a smirk from her lips and a thumbs-up from the single hand she could see, Mighty lackadaisically let her head swivel upwards, volcanic gaze sweeping slowly up the cat's vast frontage before coming to rest on his face. The grin he was trying to visibly suppress was maddeningly infuriating, such aggravation only multiplying by a factor of a hundred as she realised that despite the multitude of reasons she had for being aggrieved at his most recent and most brazen stunt, there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. _Or at least_; even as most of her mind was occupied with just looking disproving in a sultry way, some small fragment of her thoughts was able to beaver away in the background, uncover and illuminate a way forwards she'd missed in the flush of the moment, the rush of blood to the head; _there isn't anything I can do about it here and now…_;

"Big", the cat didn't respond and for a second she thought she might be able to get away with a perfectly legitimate kick in the shins but, just typical with her luck, even as she gave the thought credence he glanced down at her, the irritating smirk still hovering around his lips like a mosquito she wanted so desperately to swat, "you do realise that, for the second time in an evening, you have just made my name mud around my family?"

"Hmm, yeah I suppose I did…"; _and you're not in the least bit sorry_; she knew that for certain even if she was unaware that the sight Big had been able to see over her shoulder, that vision the cat had gleaned of Stefan's horrified expression as some great shag-pile overpowered and violated his daughter that he'd managed to glean before the older armadillo realised he was being observed and dropped his eyes hastily, was a sight he would have done a lot more than what he had to see again. _In fact_; the thought seized him – in his current mood for mischief the lure was irresistible and he raked his fringe with one massive hand, the subtle change in the set of his face making his girlfriend's pupils dilate in a way almost irresistible for him,

"…how about third time's a charm?"

She seemed unable to defend herself almost and he reached down, his lips reaching down and almost desperate to be reunited with her own; only at the last possible second did she move to intercept him, shaking her head and not backing down an inch as he made to press forward and test her resolve a little further,

"Not this time pal. I hope you realised that I don't like anyone making fun of my culinary skills like you did – everyone knows the Chaotix would have starved to death a long time ago without me there making sure they get their regulation three hot meals and five-a-day".

"Of course they do", the cat humoured her and, emboldened, she carried on,

"I also hope you realise that, slating my aforementioned talents as you just so callously did, you are going to have to pay big style?" The cat pursed his lips for a minute before nodding amicably, an almost accepting shrug of his shoulders letting all who were observing them in on his thoughts on the matter,

"Yep, that crossed my mind too", he said with refreshing honesty. In fact it was such a good act that Mighty herself almost believed he'd accepted his eventual gruesome fate as meekly as a lamb before with a laugh he went rearing backwards to his full height, the movement making the fur all over his body ripple, "but, as a couple of your friends found out this time last year, you have to get up pretty early to get one over on the Big guy at Christmas; phone Rouge if you don't believe me". The armadillo stood before his mirth unimpressed, merely cocking her head as if to better size him as one hand slid into her pocket; smoothly retracting her mobile, she flicked the screen up for a second before snapping it shut once more with a crack that echoed around the hall like a gunshot,

"As if you can get anything like signal out here", she said acidly before, in slow, deliberate movements and never letting her eyes leave the cat's sly face, the armadillo retook her seat, defusing the tension slightly as Big did likewise, "so, as I'm unable to get the fact from the proverbial horse's mouth, you better tell me what happened, and don't you dare leave anything out either. I'm watching you, and after that little trick you just pulled", she licked her lips quickly, the tip of her tongue a lightning bolt around her mouth though she never dropped her gaze, the taste of the cat still a fine vintage for her despite the bitterness behind her obtaining this particular sample, "you better believe that goes double from now on!"

XXX

_In a way I suppose I was lucky_; the thought wasn't exactly a comforting one but it gave a little sliver of hope amid the sea of mockery she'd been exposed to recently and right now in the middle of the plotting session she was ready to take any sort of emotional help she could possibly get; _at least dad couldn't collar me before mum took him upstairs. Just as well really – he'd probably have me in a chastity belt after Big made an upfront move like that one_. She snarled again even as she finished counting fifty-two; one half of her was still sore that he'd stooped so low in order to melt her frosty act while the other half was acutely touched that he'd done so – after all, embarrassment for her was a relative term but in his case…she shuddered a little, almost losing her grip on the printed pieces of plastic she'd painstaking gathered up from her final game of patience for the night following Rebekka withdrawing from their repeated games of whist and draw-the-well-dry, stating she had to lock the hostel up for the night but allowing her to remain up beyond the curfew to take into account the fact she wanted to make sure she wasn't going to be bush-whacked and reminded of the events of mere hours ago by one or other of her rather more bawdy-minded relatives.

As she pulled open the concealed drawer in front of her and dropped the pack of cards into it, back amid its fellows as generations of armadillos and other guests had added to the legion of card decks held within the tables and armchairs of the Highland Steppes, Mighty found herself shaking her head again as the question repeated itself in her mind; _why did he do that?_ _After all he's the one who's got to live with the consequences, a lot more than even I ever will_; it was true as well – the perfect memory of her boyfriend would make sure he could and would review that moment in his mind for the rest of his natural life, so why had he willingly besmirched part of his past, fully knowing that he'd have to live with the consequences? In this logical thinking, as with her emotions themselves now she thought about it, she was split right down the middle; had he been willing to make the trade of his pride for her loving him again or was it that he'd simply been caught up in the spur of the moment, or had he even been kissing her? Had it just been a plot on his part to needle her father – he must have known how little Stefan thought about public displays of affection; had he only kissed her to drive him up the wall? _No_; she knew that answer at least, in fact she was a little ashamed of herself that she'd given the original query credence in the first place; _Big doesn't play like that – I was the only thing on his mind at that point, no-one else – Stefan could have been on another planet as far as he was concerned, and as far as I was too for that matter_.

Slightly happier on that count at least as she knew she'd answered at least one question in her mind, the armadillo pushed the open drawer closed with her stomach as she stood up, she span around and pushed the chair in with her free hand in the same movement; _damn that was smooth_. A little cockiness came into her normally more reserved stride as she sauntered towards the entrance of the hallway, more of a strut than a walk as she pursed her lips seductively; _he kissed me for just one reason – I am the temptress and he cannot resist me_. She gave a sexy pout before chuckling at herself; Rouge could have pulled it off she was sure, and even Julie-Su could have had a go if they'd sandbagged her enough to drag her into a stylist kicking and screaming as she and the rest of the Chaotix promised routinely every time they met up with the former Dark Legionnaire, but the armadillo was honest enough with herself to realise that she was never going to be a scarlet woman in any way, shape or form. She didn't have the looks to even attempt seduction without feeling like a complete idiot and it simply wasn't in her to treat people like possessions, sucking everything she wanted out of them before moving on to drain the next victim. The thought entered her mind, her reclining in a luxurious and almost scalding hot bath with nothing concealing her modesty beyond a screen of bubbles as Big walked in, drawn there by her sweetly-granted permission to enter. _Oh if only_; an illusion it might have been but it was still an illusion to savour nonetheless; _still it'd never happen with the Chaotix, Esp and Vec are forever stealing all the hot water come hot sunlight or snow – cold-blooded my fo-oh_; finally pushing the door of the main dining area of the Steppes shut for the final time in the night, Mighty made to turn around and head upstairs but was stopped, all her flighty thoughts tumbling away out of her mind as the scene of rather more down to earth affection played out before her, the lady reaching forwards, waiting to be swept up into the welcoming arms of her loving hunk.

"Umm", despite their ages there must have been nothing wrong with their hearing; Mighty felt herself go a little red around the ears as she forced herself to carry on where she'd left off, "sure you don't need a hand; I mean I was about to go up anyway…" She tailed off, unable to say any more as her inspiration had died but also tongue-tied as Wull stood up to his full height, taller than she was still despite his advancing years, folding his arms and harrumphing majestically as the younger armadillo clumsily blundered in on his moment,

"Nah you be listenin' here ma little turtle-dove; ah've been doin' this job fer the better part o'twenty years, an' as long as yer auld nana is braw wi'that, I'll be doin' it fer the next twenty. Surry aboot tha' ma darlin'", satisfied Mighty had been suitably chastised, the co-owner of the hotel turned a much more benevolent gaze down towards his partner for the next few minutes, "shall we be carryin' on?"

Preoccupied with reaching for her oxygen mask Nessie didn't answer beyond a nod of her head, though as Wull reached down for her she didn't struggle at all, letting his arms slip around her mostly wasted, once very winsome frame and trying to cling on as best she could as slowly he raised them both, pulling her upwards and out of the chair that had been her virtual home since this time in the previous year. With her canister of oxygen tucked in around her knees and her mask held in her partially-paralysed left hand, the armadillo clutched her right hand as far up the human's top shirt as she could comfortably manage and spoke again,

"Aye Wull, we'd best be; I'll be needing all the sleep I can get before the grace day ends tomorrow – after that I shall be needing all my energy just to keep up…"

"Keep up", he snorted at her dismissal of herself, "nivver seen ane o'that rubble overtake you yet Ness".

"…the tempo we're all used to". _Boyo you were caught napping there_; rolling his eyes down as he took a short pause about halfway up the stairs he was carrying the aged armadillo up, he saw Nessie look a little back and behind him towards where he'd left Mighty nursing his sting to her pride.

"Ye can bring tha' chair we'ye on yer way up; ah'm nicht quite tha' young no more".

"None of us are sadly", Nessie spoke, one of her hands reaching out to brush along the banisters that had borne her weight admirably for more years than she could remember until age had overtaken her to such an extent that movement without mechanical aid was impossible, "once upon a time I was able to walk this way myself; once upon a time was a long time ago though". Wull nodded sagely as he reached the top of the stairs, still not letting the armadillo go as he waited for her great-niece to provide the chair she needed,

"Mebbe it was but there's no door shut wi'out a window left open; luke at how many o'yer kith and kin now go where we were once young". Nessie managed a chuckle before having to take another breath, following the gaze of the human as together they saw Mighty join them on the landing; despite the weight and awkward shape of the bundle she'd been holding, the younger armadillo had grappled it upstairs as easily as Wull had been able to carry Nessie herself. Setting it down, she stepped back a couple of paces and said nothing, merely watching on politely as the man tenderly set her oldest living relative down in her wheelchair, not moving away until he was sure in his own mind that she was settled comfortably,

"Now then, ye're sure…?"

"I am", now comfortably back in her support chair Nessie finished the yearly ritual as she always did, "the only time I'll ever need help getting to bed will be the time they reunite me with Geoffrey, six feet under. Until then, goodnight and I'll see you and Bekka in the morning – don't worry yourselves though, someone in the avalanche'll bear me downstairs I'm sure".

"You better be", Mighty said, butting in on the conversation maybe but making sure he grandmother knew she still commanded the love and respect of her extended family. Something not lost on either of the oldsters present,

"Guid, guid; ye'd have no idea how many young tearaways we get in here every year, little buggers they are, gi'ing their poor mams an' dads the royal runabout. It's a sea change ta see a family w' decent manners…"

"And who would they be then", Nessie chortled, her chair already edging backwards into the darkness, towards her room, "I've yet to have the pleasure. Anyway, goodnight to both of you; be ready for the festivities tomorrow". Mighty grinned but mostly restrained herself, trying to convince herself that she really was tired and needed to sleep; _If the excitement gets to me now I won't sleep a wink and that'd make me easy meat tomorrow, especially with 'Dead-Eye' David primed and ready, not to mention Reuben_; fortunately she managed to put such thoughts on hold in time to bid a respectful farewell to the older armadillo,

"Goodnight nana", she watched as Nessie wheeled herself off into the darkness at the end of the hallway and turned to Wull, smile slightly more pronounced now, "and goodnight to you too, see you in the morning".

"That ya will Michtee, ah luke fo'ward tae it. Oh, but 'fore ye go, yon cat o'yers"; _oh, him_; once more the desire for revenge crackled up in her minds, the fires fanned as Wull bent his old head closer to hers, winking slyly as he did so, "he be a bit of ah live ane, michtent he? Ah mean, no' many would dae wha' he did, fer all yer family tae see…"

"Yes I know", the armadillo cut him off, not wanting to remember any more of that incident unless she desperately had to; her toes had been curled enough for one night, "and in a way I'm grateful but take it for me that's not going to stop him copping it tomorrow". Wull looked like he might have wanted to say something else but, judging by the focussed, driving look in Mighty's face, decided wisely against speaking up now; instead he nodded politely and withdrew, clumping down the stairs as Mighty turned on her heel, stalking towards the bathroom to freshen up slightly before heading for bed.

Her mind was so caught up in schemes of revenge, twisted and convoluted with plot and counter-plot to the point of a virtual madness, that she barely registered the door was shut until she'd walked through it; only at the gasp of sudden shock did she realised the bathroom had been already occupied and, face red as a beetroot, span on her heel, blocking off her view completely as the mongoose now behind her quickly grabbed her t-shirt and pulled it hastily over her head.

XXX

"Sorry", the armadillo said over her shoulder, desperate not to take a peek and see how Mina was doing in getting herself dressed, "didn't think anyone else would be up this time. Should have knocked".

"And I should've locked the door; it's okay, you can turn around", mightily relieved that her conduct didn't seem to be on course for a reprimand, the armadillo did so in time to take her first proper look at one of the newest recruits in her family. She'd seen photographs of course; she took it as a given that the few pictures she sent her mother of the team she worked with were regularly shared out around the rest of her rabble just as she knew the copies she received from Emily had never been intended solely for her, but as she'd come to see more and more the camera could and frequently did blur the picture it was trying to convey. Thankfully in this instance what she could see was a great improvement on the few snaps she'd received; the mongoose before her was nowhere near as painfully thin as she'd seemed to be in the camera lens; _though compared to the rest of us she's never going to have to go far to look good waist-wise – she's going to be an absolute stunner when she's older_; and there was a definite sparkle in her pretty grey eyes that no film could ever have picked out. Mighty didn't know much about mongooses as a species but judging by the way the specimen before her whipped out a single hand and plucked her toothbrush from her roll without even looking at it make her suspect one of the rumours she'd heard was at least partially true – going by that sort of evidence Mina looked like she could have taken on a king cobra in terms of speed and left it for dead.

"Wow, so you're Mighty", the armadillo blinked, only just realised that she had been scrutinised as much as she'd been scrutinised in the moment of silence between the two of them, "I've heard a lot about you, Kirsten says you can flip a car over if you want to. Can you?"

"Umm, yeah, if I have to; I don't usually", caught out by Mina's quickness of words as much as her quickness of hands, it took the armadillo a couple of seconds to get up to speed with the conversation, "pushing them out of snowdrifts, now that another story and believe me I'm sure when I say I'll be up to a lot of that before this winter's over". Mina giggled, her small ears twitching on top of her head at the comment, the movements sending ripples down the thick curtain of curls that fell to her waist like a lavender sheet,

"I'll bet; dad always says he's going to trade in that old rust-bucket but, well", she looked down, the next words coming thickly for a reason Mighty completely understood, "things have been, a bit difficult recently".

"I know, I heard, but, look on the bright side Minnie, you don't mind that do you?"

"No; I went trick-or-treating dressed up as her at Halloween; I got so much chocolate and so many sweets I couldn't eat them all, mum…she had to help me". The mongoose swallowed, just about managing to choke the three letters out of her system; _mum – never had anyone to call that since…they took me away_; until recently, when the papers had been signed and formalised and Kirsten and Kerry Armadillo had become her legal guardians, the word conjured up images she would rather forget.

Faint memories of going hungry for a long time, of pricking her finger on something sharp and another mongoose, older, much fatter and with fur that was ragged, unkempt and stank of grease, hitting her hard for poking her hands where they didn't belong, of not sleeping at night as she worried where her mother was, scared to give into sleep in case she didn't come back from the place she referred to as the street. Worst of all though it brought back visions of leaving even that pitifully small world behind forever, of weeping helplessly as the other mongoose screamed for her daughter, fighting with the tall people in uniform and yelling at her to hide, get away; it had taken them a long time to coax her out from where she'd barricaded herself under the biggest bed in the house, lying in the dust of a floor that had been untouched for years in as tight a ball as she could manage, hoping against hope it would all go away. Everything else had been foggy and unclear – apparently a good thing, that was what that child psychologist or something had said when she and her newly adoptive parents had been to see him on one of their regular check-ups in the aftermath of her adoption; she was already beginning to fit into a stable, loving home and forgetting the past of being shunted from care home to potential carer family and back again.

Recollections of waking up to the smell of frying bacon, of playing dress-up and having sleepovers with new school friends were uprooting old thoughts of having her long hair pulled, the agonies of ending up back in the care home she loved and despised in equal measure and casting them aside to shrivel in the sunlight of her new life. _But still_; the overlap was still there – still the mongoose who's name she could not even remember, with her crazy eyes and foul, shrieking mouth forever damning her as a nosy child who should have her hands chopped off for putting fingers where they weren't wanted, still she clung to the title of mother, the one Kirsten, the armadillo who had treated her with nothing but kindness and only the odd stern word and gradually broken down her resistance to the idea that this time, even after all others had failed, this time she could find what she yearned for and was terrified of, a family to be a part of. _And it's got to be me that does it_; Mina cursed her split loyalties again – she should have hated her biological parent as nothing more than a weak, drug-addicted slob who didn't give a damn about anyone, not even the lovely child she'd brought into the world but at the same time felt guilty that she didn't know what had become of her – after all, if she didn't care for the mother that had virtually abandoned her, didn't that make her as bad as she had been; _I have to let go, the doctor said so – I should say Kirsten's my mum now but…_;

"Oi"; _…huh?!_; she would have jumped in fright had a hand not settled on her shoulder and clamped her in place; as it was only her heart shot upwards and lodged in her throat as Mighty almost glared down, "no, no way are you getting yourself in a muddle now, not at Christmas and don't try to deny it to me Mina Mongoose and-soon-to-be-Armadillo; I saw you worrying over something then. What did Kerry tell you about you troubles when you get to the Steppes?"

"Leave them at the front step", she managed to smile at her father's words – she could accept that with ease having never known her own father in the first place, "he has, looks happier than I've seen him in a long time". Mighty nodded and chuckled, withdrawing her hand as she did so; Mina's jaw dropped open and she stuck her tongue out reflexively as the armadillo's retreating thumb pinged her nearest ear,

"And he's every right to be; not only have he and Kirsten netted themselves a daughter they're proud as punch about but he's in remission now, not been so much as a sniff of the big C since this summer has there?" Mina nodded, glad that the one final, major hurdle she and her new family had faced had now finally been cleared,

"Not a sniff", she confirmed; _good, it's only fair_; Mighty's strong sense of fair play came back to the fore as Mina vindicated her previous hopes and turned them into reality; _Kerry never did anything to deserve cancer like that – he deserved to beat it good and proper even if it did cost him a couple of pounds here and there_; "he still has to go to hospital every month for a check up, I think the radiographer said he'd probably have to carry that on for the next year or maybe even more, just until they're sure there's no chance of it coming back. But they think his first operation and the chemo managed to lick it good and proper".

Fierce joy firing in her mind the same way it had been when, having had a fortnight plagued by nightmares of Kerry's illness forcing her out of the family again, back the cold embrace of the foster home and its alien, detached army of carers and other specialists, she'd finally been allowed to see her guardian in his hospital bed. His proclamation that he'd be able to come home by the end of the week had been the words that had broken it, the stress, the fear and the constant, nagging worry, to pieces and dust; Mina had known then that she had parents, had a family for the first time in her life – as she had thrown herself forwards into her father's arms, hearing his voice and feeling loving fingers run through her hair again, the mongoose had finally begun to believe in the truth behind the words she'd long dismissed with cynical disbelief. The thought that, regardless of differences in species and individual pasts and unhindered by ties of blood, that if someone wanted something enough, if people were prepared to sacrifice as much as Kerry and Kirsten Armadillo had given for her, then literally anything was possible, love really could conquer all.

"Then it's settled", with a great effort of will, Mina reeled her mind back from where it had been frolicking in her recent and much more pleasant memories to tune in to what Mighty was saying, the armadillo as pleased as she was that her family member was on the mend again, "what's good enough for the doctors'll be good enough for him; even if it wasn't he's such a tough old get he'd get well just to make them eat their words. You must know that better than I do". _You bet I do_; Mina shared a secret grin with her new family member at the same time as think of a couple of choice reminders of just how resolute Kerry could be when he'd made his mind up about something.

"Too right; ask Kirsten about the time he decided to dig up the old stump in our garden; he had the kitchen light on for most of the night to give him enough light to dig by". Mighty winced; _sounds too much like my family to be anything other than true_;

"And swinging an axe in the dark's not usually a good idea either, not that I've ever had any bother getting trees out the ground. Easily as picking daisies".

"Not as much fun though I bet".

"Definitely not", that Mighty did agree with; she held the thought before noticing Mina glancing down at the floor again; _it's not going to run away you know – right, forget subtlety, we go for option two, whatever the problem is, batter it into submission_;

"Mina", the mongoose jerked her head up shiftily, almost wilting under the penetrating glare Mighty lanced her with; she held it there for just a fraction of a second, long enough to make the younger Mobians' nerves jangle, before dropping it and smiling, "penny for your thoughts?"

"What? Oh, umm"; _just out of interest what was I thinking?_; somehow her memory seemed to be a blank for the past couple of minutes; _was that it – oh it sounds about right, it'll do_; "not too much really – it's just…just…I…" She never finished, Mighty did it for her;

"You weren't quite expecting this? I mean, this many of us? Don't worry", the look of eye-popping shock that had crossed the mongoose's face was only the second thing she had ever shared with Big, the rough colour of her hair being the first, "my so-called significant other, remember the cat who spoke before you did?"

"Yeah, like I could forget", in fact as she remembered Mina found herself having to cover her mouth with a hand as she started to giggle, a gesture Mighty didn't miss and frowned at, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh but he was funny, and then he kissed you didn't he?"

"Yes, then he did", the armadillo replied with heavy fatalism before trying to get the conversation back where she wanted it, "but leaving him to one side, difficult as that might be due to the fact he's the size of a baby elephant", Mina's shoulders shook, snorting with laughter at the armadillo's words as she carried on, "there's no reason for you to be anything like nervous; Nessie should have told you that if by some calamity the two K's forgot to mention it". The mongoose stopped her sniggering, looking slightly more troubled again and beginning to speak,

"Well she did but…"

"No buts", Mighty overrode her with a finger raised, "you've seen the old tapestry at the back of the hall right? Well let me tell you either tomorrow or the day after your name is going to be darned onto that ancient bit of black cloth and your parents are going to be the proudest Mobians alive. And once you're on there", the armadillo shook her head, her stance one of solemnity despite the mile-wide smile on her lips, "you never get taken off, not ever. You're going to be part of this huge family like it or not, and anyway, how can you not fit in here, you're so skinny it's not real; you'd need three of you to fill the space left by one of us barrel-backs, even the little ones". The mongoose raised an eyebrow, a more pert smile on her lips now as she smoothed down part of the purple waterfall that flowed past her ears, pinned in place by nothing more than a couple of hair clips and a lot of brushing,

"Well, as dad says, someone's got to make up for the lack of looks somewhere along the line. Though you never know", one of the other slight fears that had crossed her mind recently had also been beaten down; one of the things she liked so much about the armadillos that had taken her on was that in all things they were completely honest with her in all things, even slightly intimate details that other potential parents might not have been so forthcoming about, "they only said it was unlikely he'd never be able to have children of his own, they never said it was impossible. I'll bet if I do get a baby brother or sister, a real one I mean, not if they decide to adopt again, they'll be a lot sweeter than I was as a baby". Mighty chuckled,

"Don't you believe it; I mean come on, I could fit both hands around your waist it's that small. Look", she advanced with her hands like a pair of pincers; Mina shrank away quickly,

"Ah no", the mongoose squealed, tucking her elbows in, "I hate that, dad's always doing it to me, says it's good for high-jump practice".

"He might be right, though I doubt he's had the opportunity to put it into practise himself". Mina's eyes sparkled; _uh oh, what have I let myself in for this time?_;

"Yeah", the mongoose shrugged before delivering her killer punch, "he always says armadillos have never been good at sport; something about being heavy as a dumper-truck not helping them get off the ground". Mighty inhaled sharply, stung by the retort and pointing towards the door,

"You cheeky little moo; get yourself gone, go on, get – I'm having a shower then going to bed, you just get there now and prepare to be peppered tomorrow, I'm a crack-shot with the snowballs I am". Mina laughed as she gathered up her things, tucking her bathroom roll under one arm as she stood up,

"Maybe but I'm a hard target, you've never seen me run".

"I will tomorrow, unless you want to end up buried that is", Mighty assured her direly, staring the mongoose out as she made to move past only to drop her glare suddenly and smile; Mina didn't resist as a hand that could have broken her in half settled gently on her head, sliding down her hair as tenderly as Kirsten's would and making her shiver, "but anyway, welcome home Mina, and never forget what everyone else'll tell you come the twenty-fifth", the mongoose stepped sideways this time, wrapping one arm around Mighty's neck softly as the armadillo finished speaking in a tone that might have suggested to a casual onlooker that she, not her relatives, had adopted the mongoose as her own child, "this is your home now; we are your family – don't ever forget that we're here if you need us".

_She's a bright girl that one_; a few minutes later, with Mina having departed and the water now slipping off the back of her shell Mighty thought back over the past couple of minutes; _K and K got dead lucky that time around, as lucky as Mina was truth be told, she couldn't have gone to a better set of folks. But what did we say that's so important now? Argh, it's simple, I know it is – what was it?_; there was a connection there, things had been said that she couldn't piece together now, she was too tired and too looking forwards to tomorrow to sort it out but at the same time she knew that it concerned tomorrow; if she left it any longer she'd be too late. As she showered, she racked her brains to come up with the connection she was sure she could see.

Ironically it was as she switched the shower off that the overhead light-bulb sprang into life; with a chuckle she dried herself off quickly; _he said it – have to be in bed now_; and finished the rest of her ablutions as soon as she was able to. Glancing into the mirror her smile was as cutting as the wind she could hear howling outside, delivering the priceless cargo of vengeance she'd need for tomorrow; _ the sooner I sleep, the more likely I am to prove Big right tomorrow!_

XXX

It was just a dream; he must have imagined the soft, spidery footfalls walking up his face – they weren't really real and he'd have forgotten them in the morning. Satisfied by its only half-sentient conclusions Big's mind made to drift once more into sweet, beckoning sleep; only when something suddenly seized his nose did it finally abandon such pursuits and splutter back into life – breath drawn in and then quickly expelled in a half-strangled sneeze, the cat thrashed around under his blanket and shook his head furiously. The mysterious assailant relinquished its grip; in its wake he mostly came to, seizing his chance to half-sit up and crack open one of his eyes to take a confused, disorientated look at the smeared picture before him.

Freezing whiteness engulfed his vision; in the heat of the searing chill any biological systems that might have been dormant in the cat were violently jolted back online. Big smashed his hands up to his face, the numbing feeling spreading down over his fingertips as he burrowed them into the mushy, yielding bulk of this alien whiteness, dashing it away and opening his eyes again, blinking as a few flakes of this coldness threatened to fly into his eyes and render him unseeing again. _Wait, flakes?_; even as he struggled to comprehend what was happening around him Big was conscious of the fact that the coldness on his hands was starting to dissipate, leaving them damp; a few frantic mental calculations later, aided by a smirking titter from very close at hand, allowed him to arrive at an immediate conclusion. With a crash that probably shook fresh snow from the roof of the Highland Steppes and a groan that only creatures blessed with echo-location would have been able to hear properly, Big flumped back down onto his bed with one hand over his eyes, rubbing the melt-water from them before the palm rose up to expose one red-rimmed hazel eye, irked at its loss of sleep as it stared accusingly at the armadillo stood mere feet from him, one hand behind her back as she feigned innocence. _Ooh you are so dead_; the cat promised that mentally at the same time as try to re-engage his capacity for speech; too late, Mighty pipped him to the post,

"Morning", her maddeningly cheerful tone of vice only acted as a spur to his already irritated state of mind, "early enough for you?"

The growl that filtered back as he lowered his hand back over his face would have convinced a lesser Mobian than Mighty in no uncertain terms that it was time to back off; she, on the other hand, couldn't have given two hoots, indeed having the brass neck to go so far as kip up onto the end of his bed and give the covers before her a sharp prod, really making sure he wasn't going to be sleeping again any time soon.

"Come on, it's past eight o'clock; where's your get up and go?"

"It got up and left", Big rumbled back at her, trying to turn over and wrap himself up in his blanket again, "you do the same Might; I'm too tired to be…"; _wait for it_; turned away from her he couldn't see what was going on, relying on other senses to let him know what was transpiring – as he recognised the pressure near his calves concentrating into smaller, more focussed points, he knew she was taking the bait.

"No hope you", she was not going to be denied this – he would not cheat her of her vengeance by falling asleep so soon, "there's a snowball fight a-brewing and I can't be a part of it until you are. Up and at them youuaarrggh!"

The second he'd felt her rough hands on his shoulder he'd lunged and snapped his trap up around her; covered by the rumpled bedding and his own bulk his free arm had silently slipped up into a position of readiness, out from the blanket that had previously pinned it down. As Mighty had advanced up the bed, intent on savouring what she thought was a victory, he made his move; spinning himself around and upwards, Big met her halfway into her charge, seeing the sudden fear lunge up behind her previously steadfast eyes and taking succour in that hint of fear. There was a sudden firmness beneath his fur, he had a hold on her as she tried to back away, squealing for him to let go now and fighting to be free; no chance! Finally managing to sit up entirely, the cat managed to bring his other hand into play and grab onto the back of the armadillo's closest leg, trying to buckle it and knock her down to his level.

"Big, leggo!" In between her sudden laughter and exertions as she tried to fight her way out of his sudden imprisonment, Mighty managed to spit out her demands, "no fair I was supposed to be ambushing you. Don't you dare!" Her thrashing became stronger as she realised where the cat was dragging her, or perhaps more correctly what he was dragging her towards; she gave another squeal and, abandoning all thoughts of escape entirely, tucked herself down to try and make a half-decent fight of it as the cat purred lustily, the prize close enough for him to almost taste,

"I dare Michelle Kelly Isabelle Armadillo, I dare and a lot more than that!" Seizing a hold further up her leg he gave a couple of sharp shakes to disorientate her attempts at a rush defence, reeling her in another couple of inches and grinning wickedly as he imagined her howling hopelessly in his arms as she had in the last night at his swampland home a few weeks before, "I never make a bet I don't intend to win".

"Well", fingers making grooves in the blanket and trying to plant her free foot in his chest to give herself some leverage, Mighty fought back with all the tenacity her family and species as a whole was renowned for, "don't know about you but I never intend to lose anything; you just better get ready for what happens when you do lose it!"

"Why – you've not got a hope against me, you never did; feline grace and magnetism, you can't resist it".

"What am I doing now then?"

"Hey"; the gruffly growled word didn't quite stop the two Mobian's play-fighting immediately; they took a couple of seconds to wordlessly confirm that the other hadn't been the one to speak before, as one, they each turned to guiltily regard the other occupant of this bedroom as his hooded eyes glared at them evilly, "give a guy a break will you; if you wanted to get busy couldn't you at least go to her room; she's not got anyone else to wake up!"

As Mighty slipped down from where they'd previously been wrestling Big caught a glimpse of her face; _good, it's not just me then_; and the sight of her impish grin let him know he wasn't alone in not feeling a hundred percent remorseful at upsetting Derek's lie-in. In fact her cousin didn't seem to know quite how much danger he was in as he grunted again and rubbed his eyes, looking around blearily this way and that,

"All this, and after a pretty rough night sleeping as well – why are you charging around like a bull in a china shop this early anyway? If you wanted to put those womanly wiles of yours to good use you could have done it in the night – you know I sleep like a rock". _Boy is he skating on this ice_; somehow Big kept the smirk off his face as he saw Mighty turn around and pace up towards the foot of his bed; as he swung his legs around to stand up and stretch off himself the cat heard his girlfriend's voice answering her impudent cousin,

"No I did not want to put anything to use Derek; I just came to get the pair of you up. Have you seen it outside, it's snowing!"

"Wow", the other armadillo cut back sardonically, "mid-winter at the base of the Highlands in Scotland, I'd never have guessed it could snow. Now take a hike, I'm getting some more kip". With a huff Mighty folded her arms; luckily for her, he never saw the glance she sent darting towards the window of the room he and Big jointly shared,

"Hmm, do I detect a hint of sarcasm there?" Derek's answering look said more than words could have ever explained and, emboldened that her plan was going so smoothly for a change, Mighty carried on, "well you know what you need Derek?"

"A couple of hours extra with my head down", he flopped back onto his pillow, the conversation finished as far as he was concerned, "which is exactly what I'm going to get".

"Derek, Derek, you don't need to sleep", from his vantage point Big shook his head at the grey-shelled armadillo's folly; not only was he ignoring the chiding tone of his cousin's gentle pronunciations, he actively rolled over to turn his back on her, the top edges of the characters gouged into his shell just about visible over the crest of the material as Mighty carried on, "what you need is…" A gust of wind made Big's teeth chatter for a few seconds before his winter coat insulated him; he had a vague supposition that the bundle of blankets that Derek had embalmed himself within was stirring to take into account what had caused the temperature to drop but most of his attention was focussed on the window sill, seeing Mighty turn away from the window she'd opened with a big ball of something white in her hand and smirking that he wasn't the target of it this time,

"…a reminder of what winter's all about".

"Get knotted; no I mean it", his words rebounded off Mighty's implacable advance like the snowflakes drifting into the room did from her back and, sensibly deciding discretion to be the better part of valour, Derek ceased wasting his effort on words and hastily threw his covers over his head, balling himself up as tight as he was able to as his cousin reached him, the snowball in one hand disappearing after him as Mighty reached in, looking for an opening to freeze him through. Big left them to it, chuckling a little as he buckled up his belt and reached for a clean pair of socks, a thought occurring to him as the struggle over his shoulder played out, Mighty's sweetly false concerns about her cousin's welfare drowned out by his muffled damnations of her underhand attack; _he really is good at this. Even with his shell I'd have expected her to…_; a panicked yell left his chain of thought forever unfinished and he shrugged; _…never mind_;

"Woaahhhooww!" The bed across from his exploded upwards, the armadillo within it leaping like a salmon as the armadillo that had been beside it sprang back, grin a mile wide as her cousin came crashing back to earth, still huddled in a foetal ball as he gasped at his exposure to the sudden cold, "no need for that; I've heard of freezing your assets but I didn't know you could freeze anyone else's!" Mighty laughed as she unconsciously towelled her hands off on the nearest corner of Big's blanket,

"You're talking to Mighty Armadillo pal, normal rules don't apply to me. Haha, missed". Truly impudent now, she stuck her tongue out at where Derek was now sitting up looking murderous having failed in his attempt to hit her with a flick of the snow she'd nailed him with.

"Yeah, for now; you are going to have to pay for that", he said, bravely soldiering on at where she was stood with one palm upraised, giving the impression she wasn't listening to a word he was saying, "only Ray gets to go down there". Big raised an eyebrow; _he hasn't mentioned a partner before now_;

"Ray?" The cat parroted mildly, both armadillos looking at him as he spoke for the first time since getting out of bed, "that short for something?" Derek shook his head,

"Nah, just Ray; he's my other half – got a picture somewhere, bear with me a sec".

In all honesty Big hadn't suspected two things there; first off that Derek was what he was in the first place and secondly that he'd been so brazenly upfront about it; _most of them in Station Square are so shy about it – makes a change to see one being so forwards_. Wisely holding his peace the cat simply finished getting ready for the new day Mighty had dragged him into with only half an eye on where Derek was now fiddling with a pocket of his jeans, finding what he was after a second later with an exclamation of triumph,

"Ah, here we go, he's in there; nice guy, been with him about sixteen, eighteen month, so no need to staple your tail down at night".

"Derek!"

"What?" He shrugged carelessly at where Mighty was stood looking furiously vermillion, "we're not all bleeding-hearts with skin like paper you know, most of us do have a sense of humour. Come on, there's enough gay jokes out there already, least we can do is learn to laugh at them". Big nodded at the same time as catch what he assumed was the armadillo's wallet, Derek tossing it his way at the same time as verbally fence with his cousin,

"If it's love that makes the world go around, then laughter oils the gears", he quoted, an old proverb from a source he couldn't be bothered to look up properly as he flipped the plastic over, seeing the picture on one of the inside pockets and cocking his head for a better view, "and at least one of you looks like a comedian judging by this".

The picture was fairly old and dog-eared; Big would have guessed it was about two months younger than Derek's relationship with the other Mobian he could see stood side by side with the armadillo within the frame of the picture itself. He was relatively short of a…the cat squinted, suddenly a little confused; he'd been about to call Ray an otter but he didn't have the tail for it, in fact if anything he had the tail of a squirrel. _Cross maybe, or, what's that?_; looking even harder Big focussed on the arm the strange Mobian held around Derek's shoulders, the hand on the end of that arm giving the armadillo the bunny ears from behind the back of his head at the same time the armadillo had his entwining arm clapped on the shoulder of his lover. Not wanting to be caught staring for too long, the cat casually flipped the wallet shut again and tossed it back to its owner, Derek not deigning to catch it as he wrestled himself into his jean, Mighty looking away at this point to give him a little privacy.

"Looks cool enough; couldn't he make it this year?"

"Nah, does his own thing at Christmas, his family's as tight as ours", the armadillo replied, thankfully answering the questions Big had been toying with in his mind but afraid to ask for fear of sounding rude, "met him on my gap year, just before I got my apprenticeship, we moved in together down south about six months ago. He's training to be a teacher at the minute so we just about scrape by on a good month; the road of love never runs smooth hey?" Big sniggered as Derek raised an eyebrow and shifted his eyes towards where Mighty stood trying to keep a lid on her temper at his suggestion,

"Never; if it is you can bet something's about to go horribly wrong. Anyway, he looks almost foreign, where'd you meet him?" Derek stifled a laugh badly, though thankfully controlled himself enough to speak before Big made to administer an unnecessary apology,

"Chip shop in Brighton; foreign as roast beef and haggis is Ray. His mum and dad moved here from South America, Peru I think, he's got dual citizenship between here and there. He went back over just before it all kicked off up here, think his grandparents have a big ranch or something out there. He's a flying fox by the way, well mostly, reckon he's got a bit of bat blood in him somewhere along the line".

"Nothing wrong with that", Mighty chipped in from the side; Derek looked over and grinned,

"So speaks the wolf-girl over there; still howling at the moon or have you grown out of that phase yet?" _If looks could kill_; though he knew, or at least he was almost certain, that this was just banter between his girlfriend and her cousin, Mighty lethal glare sent even Big back a pace or two,

"Coyote actually", she said in a voice more caustic than any acid could ever hope to be, "they don't howl they bark, and bite". She bared her teeth and Derek winced, shuddering as he looked over to Big,

"Oww, you watch yourself there pal; rolling in the hay with that lupine might get you savaged to death if she gets a bit over-eager. If I were you I'd keep a couple of silver bullets in your pocket, just in case".

"I'll bear it in mind"; _let's get out of here – the rate he's going all the snowdrifts in Scotland wouldn't cool her off in a second_; mind made up and one eye firmly on where Mighty appeared to be about ready to unleash the beast Derek had been happily prodding fun at recently, Big made to clear the area while they were all still marginal friends, "but right now, better get a bit of central heating down me before Mighty drags me into the winter wonderland out there. Just let me splash some water on my face and we'll be gone".

Having said his piece the cat bolted for the security of the bathroom, hoping against hope that when he got back Derek might have said something like sorry to save Mighty ripping his face off. As he locked the door behind him the cat sank against it for a minute, listening for anything close to a scream of bloodcurdling terror or howl of bloodlust; _nah, I think he'll live…_; a sudden cry of pain made him flatten his ears; _…maybe – well mate you're on your own, Mighty said it earlier_; slowly making his way to the washbasin Big hummed an out-of-key tune that clashed with the odd squeak and shriek of pain filtering through the door as he filled it with warm water and reached for the soap; _only an idiot wants to get in the way of an armadillo family brawl and believe it or not I ain't one of them!_

A/N: Smart thinking there Big; sorry this chapter's a bit late in coming, been really busy. Hopefully get the next one out soon – snowballs at the ready and fire at will.


	11. Chapter 11 Snow and Sacrifice

Chapter 11 – Snow and Sacrifice.

A/N: I know this chapter's been a long time coming but, I'm afraid, the fact of the matter is that right now there are a lot of things going on in my life that have to take precedence over my writing such as it is. As such I might be a fair amount slower than I usually am at getting these chapters out; all I can say is that I'll try to be as swift as I can in typing them up for my readers. Speaking of whom, reviewers:

He took a last deep breath, glanced up as though asking for a favour from the man on high for Derek's sake at least, then twisted his hand on the door handle and walked through into the main bedroom. Or to be more accurate he tried to; at the sight awaiting him there he'd stumbled to a halt in the bathroom door, his conscious mind taking in the sight of the shape before him at the same time as his intellect was trying to make that shape out into the forms of two entwined armadillos; _that's not supposed to bend that way surely…_;

"Tap if it hurts"; _…didn't think it was_; judging by the agonised splutter and frantic banging on the floor from Derek's one free hand Big guessed his earlier postulation had been correct as Mighty relaxed the very slight modicum of pressure she'd been exerting on her cousin's pinned wrist and slowly released his trapped arm, almost tossing the extension of the limb back to its owner with a curt reminder,

"Next time I rip it off and beat you to death with it, got it?" Derek didn't reply for a minute, merely remaining on the floor and moaning in excruciation, his unmolested arm wrapping around to hug his violated one as Mighty stood up, a relieved sigh punctuating his lamentation of misery as he made contact,

"Oh thank God, it's still on there. Ah, pins-and-needles, pins-and-needles!" With a snort Mighty looked down at him, smoothing out her ruffled clothing as a saucy smirk sidled onto her lips,

"Be grateful I let you get away with that much buster – I only let you live because a couple of other people made fun of the fact I've got some non-armadillo inheritance and I'm running out of places to hide the bodies".

"Now that I do believe; speak to me", Derek broke off his death-glare at his cousin to implore his unresponsive limb, "give me some sign you're alive down there". Big gave a laugh,

"Rolling in the hay's bad for your health you said?" The cat pointed to where the blanket had been half-dragged off his room-mate's bed to act as an impromptu wrestling mat, "looks like romping in the sack with her isn't the best idea in the world either". Derek rolled his eyes and gave another pain-wracked groan at the lame quip; Mighty, however, ignoring him, her eyes fixed on her cousin's still-unresponsive limb,

"Hmm, I could…" Mighty stepped forwards an inch, Big had to stifle a laugh as Derek scuttled backwards a mile, huddled tight against the far wall and regarding her horror-struck,

"No chance, you've frozen my twins and cracked my arm one, leave the rest of me alone. Go beat Big up or something, and anyway when did you start taking up self-defence? You don't need any training; one look at your face should be enough". _And you're trying to avoid trouble?_; Big was only grateful Mighty's back was to him as he took it as a given that smirking right now would be taken in a very dim light as the insulted party bunched her considerable fists and placed them on her hips, her expression a certain scowl,

"For your second question there Derek, the training's a perk of my job and for the first part", thankfully the cat managed to just about sober himself up in time to look politely neutral as Mighty whipped around to glance at him, unable to look over her shoulder due to her shell impeding her neck movement, gave him a piercing glance before turned back to where her grey-shelled counterpart was just getting to his feet, "well I won't say it isn't tempting but by my reckoning a snowball to the mush first thing in the morning squares us up".

"Is that so?" Finally coming back to a vertical base and ceasing the massage he was performing on the twisted muscles of his arm, Derek looked over his cousin's head to raise and eyebrow at Big, "so what's the price for one to the jewels?"

"I let you live, on one condition, and that goes to both of you", Big froze in his smirking as his girlfriend raised her voice and cut his mockery of Derek's plight short; _how, how do girls always do that? Not looking, no mirrors anywhere – how do they always know when to put the dampers on the fun time?_; "get your tails in gear and get downstairs; snowball fight's already started and I owe a couple of Mobians not a million miles away a premature snow-burial".

The fact that she also owed one particular Mobian a quite literal burial flickered across her mind for a second but she cut the image off, picturing what she was going to do to that particular echidna next time she had her hands on him and letting the pleasing images of fire and brimstone warm the cockles of her darkest imaginations before a slight cough from behind her jarred her mental images; _damn, and just as it was getting to the good, gory bit…_;

"So I see – just our luck Derek", the grey-shell looked up, "a family of wide-awakers and us, two Mobians who know the true joy of taking it all in your stride and allowing yourself to have a decent lie-in once in a while".

"You bet – every year I have to put up with this…" For Mighty at least, the rest of her cousin's speech and recriminations about how he was forever being turfed out of bed at Christmas faded into the background as she took in what Big had been looking at recently. Like he had, she gazed out of the window he'd been observing the world through, though for obvious reasons of height she had to disguise such a look by taking a couple of half-steps to the side whereas he'd just had to turn his head and get a decent look at the scene of pure whiteness out there awaiting her just scant minutes for now.

The entire grounds of the Highland Steppes, all three or so square acres of it, was a blanket of utter whiteness, the snow on the ground garbing the scenery in a gown of stark, aloof brilliance. Going by what she had felt from the windowsill she knew it was the best kind of snow of all; powder-fine and delicate, no chance of a hastily rolled snowball containing a hazardous chip of ice up here in Scotland now; the thought, no, more than that, the need to be down there and starting to join in the ritualistic combat seized her, the unstoppable urge only increasing as before her gaze a couple of ants scurried over the frozen lawn, defiling its serene purity at the same time as enrich its barren stillness with shouts of challenge and joy she could virtually hear even from her eyrie up here. _Right, enough talk, time we were gone_; mind made up, she turned around and, disregarding where Derek was pulling up his jeans, she speared her boyfriend with a gesture that brooked no argument,

"Right you, downstairs, something to eat and then outside in that order, no arguments, no excuses, no nothing. Let's move". She clapped her hands; Big glanced off to the side of him as though looking for either an explanation or some help,

"I take it this is one of those 'I've made your mind up for you' kind of moments?" Derek nodded; _well, after what I've already gone through this morning, I wouldn't be saying no to her_;

"Looks like it mate; I'll see you in a second". Big nodded and, just before his girlfriend had a chance to blow some more steam off in his direction, he offered his hand forwards,

"All right, all right, I can see I'll get no peace until…" He got no further; instead he found himself trying hard not to wince as Mighty temporarily forgot her strength in her excitement, seizing his hand in a crushing grip and yanking him towards the bedroom door,

"Right, let's go, go, go; no rest of the wicked and all that – you've got to help me nail David this time around – smarmy panther plastered me last year, time for some revenge, best served, of course, ice-cold". _No chance_; glancing up to see the door to his room looming large in his vision and knowing that, off-balance and being dragged forwards at a rate of knots, he'd never fit through it properly, the cat concentrated all his energy on grounding his feet and bringing Mighty to heel. There was an incredible jolt of pain in his shoulder as for a second the irresistible force was tested against dragging an immovable object, though mercifully it passed swiftly as Mighty drew herself up short,

"What's up?"

"Just a minute, just a minute", not comfortable with being dragged out of his normal routine, the cat tried to regather both his breath and his bearing after his turbulent start to the day, "don't rush me, you know I don't like that. I know you're excited; Christ"; _I sound like my dad_; the sudden thought made the huge cat chuckle to himself, glancing over his shoulder at where Derek was still getting ready, "it's like looking after a two-year old". The grey-shelled armadillo shuddered,

"Don't; bad memories", Big was just quick enough to sneak a peek at where Mighty was attempting to look innocently coy before her cousin managed to get back to the real world and slam the cupboard door in the faces of his old skeletons, "you have any idea how hard it is for a six-year old to baby-sit a hyperactive toddler, least of all when the toddler's as strong as you are?" The cat chuckled again,

"I dread to think".

"I dread to remember", Derek shivered again before giving a final shake of his head, "she loves winter time, always has; first flake in the air and whoomph, there she was, trying to catch it. She was digging in the stuff before she could walk; did you tell him your old nickname Mich, you know, the one before you became Mighty?"

_No she didn't_; Big raised an eyebrow at this new titbit of information; _another little secret you've been keeping from me Mighty?_ He turned around to see the armadillo looking a lot more ominous than she had before, a scowl on her normally smiling lips as she grated a response,

"Thanks a lot there Derry; no I hadn't. Again, nothing to it, I just forgot – do I have to?" Big nodded expectantly; he recognised the wheedling note that had crept into the armadillo's voice and was determined it wasn't going to get her anywhere this time around,

"'Fraid so, unless you want Derry over there to cough it up sometime tonight". _I'm stuffed here aren't I?_; just out of interest she looked past Big and parted the fingers that had spread over her face at this news – one glimpse of Derek's face sealed that idea for her; _oh yeah, royally stuffed, roasted and served with an apple in my mouth_.

"All right, just don't tell the guys on Angel Island. Okay I was", she cursed inwardly, feeling her face starting to burn despite doing her best to feel cool inside, "was Moley Armadillo; I just liked digging in the snow as a baby, that's not a crime is it?" Derek gave an outraged choke, a couple of choice reminders from his past giving him ample firepower to unload this time around,

"It is when they wire up yours truly over here to go down the tunnel you've just dug and pull you back out by your tail; you used to cling on like gum to a shoe sole, wailing away she was the second we broke the surface. How we never lost you for good I'll never know, more's the pity".

"Not as far as I'm concerned", Big chipped in, working out that a couple of compliments now would set him in good stead for later if things did boil down to a proper all-out snowball fight later on, "anyway, Moley's not too bad, better than Fluff-bert at any rate".

As he'd expected that name sent both armadillos sprawling with the giggles; Derek collapsed against the bed he'd been getting up from as Mighty imploded, hugging her stomach and laughing madly; into this hurricane of madcap hilarity Big tried to blow some words of explanation,

"Come on Might, you've seen the pictures; I was a real fluff-ball as a kitten. Didn't lose my powder-puff hair until I was just ready to start junior school, what were mum and dad supposed to call me?"

"Fluff-bert", Derek had just about made it to his knees only to collapse again as though hit in the stomach by the other armadillo in the room with him, "that's harsh man, hahahaha, harsh but funnehhee!"

"Tell me about it, especially when I got snapped just after a bath, came out to about here", he spread his arms wide to emphasise his point before Mighty, having finally got a handle on her hilarity, managed to finally come back to her feet and redirect her boyfriend to where she wanted him to be,

"Well then Fluffy, be that as it may we're moving on; catch you downstairs Derek, literally". The other armadillo snorted, taking up the challenge as she'd know he would,

"You wish, four-minute mile me, and yeah", he pulled his arm into one of his sleeves, "lightning can run on ice, carefully".

"Better hope for your sake it can; Big…"

"Way ahead of you; after you"; holding the door open for her politely, the cat allowed her pass before exiting the room himself, "look like you could use a bit of breakfast; the work-out downstairs is going to kill us".

"It'll kill you", Mighty riposted, revelling in the opportunity to score a verbal point of her own for a change, "no shell you know?"

"Just as well, lighter on my feet, I can dodge better. Being able to take a hit's all well and good but avoiding a hit altogether's better all round". _Not from where I'm standing_; digesting his words, Mighty was forced to discount the logic within them after a second's thought; _one-on-one yeah maybe but in an all-on-all out there you'd have to be either Sonic or Shadow to get out the way of all of them_.

"True, but take it from me there's going to be a lot of snow flying around out there; no chance you're getting out the way of all of it". Big had his answer all planned out, the response on the tip of his tongue when the need for it shrivelled away, all thoughts of humour dashed forever by a single, quiet and discreet cough.

XXX

Even without turning around both Mobians knew who it was; the glance they managed to share before being forced to turn and face their nemesis just confirmed the fact. Stefan was looking as gloatingly triumphant as Big had been afraid he would be, something namelessly cheerful in the armadillo's humourless figure lit up by apprehending them sharing a jokey moment,

"Forgive me but I must have missed the sign; Rebekka has relaxed the rule about opposite sexes cohabiting in her dormitories, unmarried partners that is?" Big tried to think of something that might salvage this situation, a scene from another part of his history that might have been of use here but nothing came to him, everything was a blank and, as Stefan had smugly known she must have, Mighty was forced to answer him with smouldering fury in her eyes and crimson beginning to spread along her cheek,

"No father, she hasn't, we were just…"

"So I see"; _I hate that_; no matter how much she wanted to carry on talking over the top of him, every time that stiletto dagger of a voice knifed her tongue with a pointed poniard of a tone, rendering her indignation at being treated like a child again mute; _and because of that, because I'm not strong enough to talk over the top of you, Big's going to get another reminder of how sodding obnoxious you really are_; "well in that, case, presuming the rules haven't changed, may I ask what circumstances contrived you to break them Michelle? What life-or-death situation made you go into that room and you, master cat, what was so important that both of you were needed to see it through?"

"What was so important? Uncle Steve, that's a question and a half", Stefan whipped around and Big breathed again, Mighty by the side of him exhaling hard too; the grey-shelled armadillo had pinned them between a rock and a hard place and only the actions of the other grey-shell who'd just emerged from the bedroom door looking dishevelled but with an enlightened gleam in his eye had been enough to break them out of it. The cat counted his blessings as he realised that dislike of Stefan seemed to run through most of Mighty's family,

"What was so important was the two of them making mad, passionate love so damn good", Derek flicked some imaginary sweat from his brow as Stefan's fists clenched, "even I needed a cigarette afterwards".

_Do not laugh_; how he managed to convince himself to follow what his mind was screaming at him even he didn't know, the hand he brought up to his face to disguise an explosive smirk could itself be disguised in its true purpose by curling a finger or two around his whiskers. Derek's remark had been absolutely picture-perfect, even more so than Stefan's reaction to it; the older armadillo's hands were up now and Big could just imagine how sorely tempted Stefan must have been to wrap them around his cocky nephew's neck.

"Man you couldn't hear them; and they say I sleep well at night", just like his father Derek must have known every single one of Stefan's buttons and was now systematically prodding them all in a countdown to detonation, "put it this way the earth wasn't just moving, it was going so fast it didn't even have time to cancel the milk and newspaper deliveries".

"Be quiet!" Stefan's harsh growl managed to shut his insufferable nephew up once more; Big could only hope his face was at least semi-straight as his girlfriend's father span on his heel to send a venomous look his way before squaring off against Derek again, "my daughter's not all muscle, she knows that sleeping around could be enough to get both her and that cat…"

"Big"; _what?_; the cat himself whipped his head down, shocked beyond hope of emotional concealment as for the first time in his recollection Mighty took a stand against her father, Stefan having finally exceeded even her respect for him, "he is not just 'that cat', his name is Big, and I agree with what Nessie said last night; what we do behind closed doors is our affair. I do not sleep around, although", a devious smile lit up her face like a ghostly candle, "since you seem so convinced I could take that…" Stefan's face had clouded over to a storm-cloud black and now, finally, let loose its first clash of thunder, arcs of lightning all but spitting from his lips towards the target of his daughter,

"You do and you can consider yourself no daughter of mine girl; I raised you better than that…" Big tried once more to blend into the background as the dispute threatened to boil over, Stefan gaining no respite as his unguarded back was barraged by Derek, no mirth in the younger grey-shells' tone this time,

"Shut up you tight-assed hypocrite", seeming to forget that Stefan shared his daughter's massively enhanced physical prowess Derek snarled and pushed himself right up into the other armadillo's face, unafraid of his retribution, "you never raised Mighty, my aunt Millie did – all you tried to do was break her and you failed", he chuckled darkly, his eyes narrowed almost to nothingness as a malicious grin stretched his mouth apart, "you failed big time".

The hallway was as still as the gallows, tension and threats of violence on the air so thick Big could almost feel it, a lasso clenched tightly against his middle not letting him draw breath. For a horrible second Big was certain this whole thing was about to blow up, that Stefan was going to lash out and maim his nephew crushingly with a single punch and he made ready to follow on Mighty's heels, knowing that he'd have no choice but to get involved if anything did happen and damn the consequences until later, but somehow even that evil instant passed, then a second and Stefan was stepping backwards, away from Derek, speaking in a toneless voice that cut all the more deeply for its heartlessness at something as sacred as a family should have been,

"Raising a child is something you with which you have no experience, nor will you or any of your kind ever have experience of it", a ripple of rage crossed the younger armadillo's face and well Big sympathised with him; more than once he'd wanted to take Stefan's acerbic tongue and rip it out of his mouth by the roots, "I find it only a shame that certain traits seem to pass from father to son; you have Gavin's love of profanity and lack of proper manners, such a pity".

"Dad…" Mighty half-growled as a warning as Derek's eyes narrowed to slits; it looked like he would have said something less than complimentary to her as well before somehow Derek managed to speak once more, his voice so low it was virtually subterranean,

"Pity?" The younger grey-shell's chest hitched once but he managed to recover and speak on, "you are the last Mobian on this planet to pity me, if anything it should be the other way around. But it's not all bad", somehow he managed to lighten his tone, looking over Stefan's shoulder to regard his cousin with a favourable glance, "a shame some things go from father to son, even better that some things don't go from father to daughter – Mighty doesn't have your blue-blood, your attitude or your outright snobbishness. Oh, and as far as 'my kind' goes", Derek glanced around and lowered his voice at the same time as though afraid of being overheard, "I wouldn't worry uncle, you're perfectly safe".

"You have no idea how glad I am to hear that", a dead, dry whisper was Stefan's only answer, nothing left in his voice that boded for good or for ill as the armadillo turned away and made to move through whoever was stood in front of him, "I am going for my normal walk; I do not expect to see any of you for the rest of the day, you'll be occupied with your childish games I'm sure. Good day, and do not let me see you in there again Michelle". Despite his best intentions Big couldn't stop his fists clenching as, wilting under the iron gaze of her father, his girlfriend lowered her head and mumbled,

"All right dad, I won't".

"Good", satisfied on that point the oldest armadillo present brushed his eyes upwards to spare Big a single, dismissive glance before simply walking past without so much as a good morning; Big had to shackle down his mutinous mind as the urge to call the armadillo back and demand he show some of the manners he professed to hold in high regard rose to almost irresistible levels.

"…let you see me in there".

"Nicely said", only Derek's low murmur let the cat catch up on what was going on; _wait up, did you…?_; obviously she had, the determined, fiercely rebellious glare on Mighty's face told him she had just whispered what he thought she'd let slip, "he's getting worse I swear he is; any day now the rod shoved up his tail-end is going to start showing out his mouth". Big gave a nod of agreement and grunted,

"I agree; one day, when Emily's not about for some reason, he is going to get exactly what he deserves and he'll have no cause for a come-back in any way, shape or form – it's only Em who's shielding him from that now. But anyway", not wanting to dwell on the armadillo who'd just walked past for obvious reasons, the cat tried to shift everyone's attention to a much more immediate and pleasant subject, "downstairs it is; the table's probably laid and, beyond that, the fight awaits!"

XXX

Uniquely almost, as far as Big could remember, the main hall was almost deserted; a couple of armadillos were scattered around and absolutely none of them looked in the mood for a conversation – to a Mobian they were frantically troughing through whatever was on the plates in front of them with a distinct lack of anything even remotely resembling table manners. _Probably just as well Stefan made an early break for it_; the cat looked around at the bedlam all over the dining hall, noticing the haphazard usage of forks, fingers and grabbing fists with light amusement; _manners like this would have probably keeled him over if he'd seen them_. He glanced down, ready to say a word to Mighty only to realise there was a blank space where an armadillo used to have been by the side of him; only the sound of,

"Move over Junior", allowed him to locate her bull-dozing a tardy younger relative out the way and pounce on an empty seat at one of the tables, "hungry lady coming through; Big, grab a seat and tuck in, I can't start hurling snow until you do, so get your tail over here". Deciding against argument on the grounds that it would probably only hack the armadillo off and he could do without Mighty bearing him a grudge on what was basically a whole three-acre's worth of ammunition for her to deploy, Big set off meekly to join her only to be stopped by a chuckle from the back of him. Glancing over his shoulder he saw Derek shake his head at him, only a slight redness around his eyes showing where the recent brush with his most hated uncle had affected his mind, especially the reminder that he would in all probability never have children of his own; _oh well, just have to hope everyone else gives me some nephews and nieces to play happy-families with_;

"Another of those mind-made-up-for-you-minutes mate?" The cat echoed his smile,

"Guess so; coming Mighty".

"Good", her answer was crisp and to the point; Big saw her turn to the relation by the side of her and gave a jolt when he realised he recognised the youngster, "budge up Rod, he needs a bit more room than that to sit down".

_Roddy?_; seeing the normally bombastic armadillo there made so little sense Big had to take a second look to make sure he was seeking things right; _why's he here – I'd have thought he'd have been the first outside_. Curiosity aroused, the cat approached the table with a slightly more circumspect air, taking a little longer to take in Roddy's expression when he could see it; for a second he thought it was possible he'd been grounded for some reason – certainly from the experience Big had of him he seemed to be the kind of kid who'd get into scrapes like that enough to warrant reprimand on occasion, but if that was the case he'd be expecting one of his parents nearby to make sure he was sticking to his penitence. In addition, he looked serious but not outright unhappy; in fact as Big took his seat next to his girlfriend he was certain that if anything Roddy looked, for want of a more accurate word, driven in a desire for something. Unable to see why exactly, the cat resorted to the normal option for someone wanting to find information out,

"Hey Roddy", the little armadillo pricked his ears, looking up at the source of the question, "where's everyone else, your family I mean; sorry but I saw that coming a mile off".

"Aww"; _spoiled my chance of a joke_; a little miffed by the cat ruining his fun, the armadillo simply shrugged, "outside most of them, I know mum is, don't know about Ed and dad".

"Oh I see", Big said as though considering his point; he was about to ask the hundred-dollar question and had in fact open his mouth to do so before Mighty swallowed her hastily-masticated mouthful of toast and managed to splutter,

"Rod, seen Uncle Gav around?"

"Yeah, he went out about quarter of an hour ago, said something like 'once more unto the beach' or something like that. Dunno why; who'd want to go to the beach when it's snowing?" Mighty shrugged at the same time Big fell quiet and hushed his previous question; the expression she'd flashed his way would have kept anyone from poking their nose in where she felt it didn't belong,

"Well you know Uncle Gav – if anyone would it'd be him even at this time of year. Anyway, since he's gone, why don't you go keep Derek company?" At the name Roddy's head shot up, his eyes following Mighty's pointing finger like the point of a sniper scope; once he identified his target he slid off his stool, burst under the table as seemed to be his custom and pelted towards where Derek was just reaching for some orange juice.

"Hey Big-D, didn't see you come down"; as the graven-shelled armadillo detected the incoming missile of his younger relative his face broke into a smile; Big, however, saw no more as he stopped to whisper into his girlfriend's ear,

"What's up?"

The question was enough; had it been anyone other than Roddy he might have needed to elaborate but when the effervescent little armadillo was concerned there was no need to say any more. Mighty for her part put down her slice of toast, appetite seemingly deserting her for a minute as she gave a regretful sigh,

"Roddy is, bless him; every year he does this, just because he made a mistake when he was a lot younger – it wasn't his fault, we, armadillos like us I mean", Big nodded to know he understood exactly why Mighty had indicated herself and her nephew as apart even from the rest of her family in this matter, "we've all made mistakes no matter how well we try to keep a lid on it, or how often people tell us how strong we are. It's just one of those things". Big nodded again, keeping up a semblance of normality as the subject of his curiosity flashed a look their way before jumping upwards, Derek's laugh quickly choked off as his favourite younger relative made to take immediate revenge of his low jab in the side,

"You're not the only ones; look at me for instance. In fact out the lot of you I'm the best example with what happened…to end my school career".

"I know", Mighty nodded sadly, aggrieved at Roddy's self-enforced moral stance at the same time as not a little touched by his dedication that he'd stuck it for the fourth year in a row now; his response to an accident that she for one believe he should never have shouldered any blame for, not really in any case, "but in his case, perhaps even more so than you, it was an accident; he really didn't mean to hurt anyone, least of all one of his grandmas. It's the reason he doesn't join in snowball fighting", she explained with steel in her voice that she didn't really feel; Big said nothing, merely letting her carry on in her own time as this less than completely pleasant episode in her family episode came out into the light, "years ago, the year he turned six, he was out there scrapping away with the rest of us and misjudged a high, hard one – it hit aunt Fiona right in the face, broke her glasses, even the lenses. There was", she swallowed, remembering the ambulance pull away towards the nearest hospital as Roddy had been inconsolable, sobbing in his mother's arms and begging for forgiveness that all present had willingly given, accepting it had been a genuine accident, "there was a lot of blood, she got a torn eyelid, some other shallow cuts in the face, looked worse than it was but he was convinced he'd nearly blinded her and it was all his fault. He swore then and there that he'd never join in again, went inside and stayed their all day, wouldn't come out no matter what any of the rest of us said or did".

_Poor sod_; it was a strange thought to have for an armadillo with an attitude and ego like Roddy's obviously was but there was reason behind Big's sudden stab of sorrow for his sake; _typical, the one time it wasn't his fault he won't let anyone tell him it's actually not_. It seemed the way for irony to stick the boot in good and proper; the thing the cat would have placed a hefty bet on would have otherwise been the highlight of Roddy's year was the one thing he denied himself for reasons he was convinced held tight water. With a last look at where the armadillo in question was single-mindedly wolfing down a bowl full of cereal, Big shook his head in regret as he reached for the sugar pot,

"Let me guess", he said in a quiet whisper a few seconds later, giving Mighty the time she needed to pull herself back together, "he hasn't stopped telling himself that he's to blame? He still won't come out and play?" Mighty hastily sniffed and, after pinching the bridge of her nose with her free glove, turned to look at him again, regret etched deeply into her demeanour as a whole as she shrugged her shoulders,

"No, he hasn't since; he said he'll never have another snowball fight and it's the one New Year's resolution he hasn't broken", she gave a weak smile at her lame quip, Big just about cottoning on at the last minute and giving a gruff snort of laughter, shoving her gently in the side and giving her the support she needed to finish her story, "but it's not all bad, for him at least", a little fire began stoking her belly, injustice firing her up as she recalled being piped at the post by the narrowest of margins last year, "because he doesn't fight like the rest of us he always gets head-start building his snowman – that's the only reason he's been the champ two years running but not this year. You hear that ya little rat-bag?" Suddenly she was on her feet, the challenge hot in her throat and the target of her ire for some reason not at all concerned about the possibility of his forthcoming dethroning as the king of Christmas sculpting,

"You've had your reign you little usurper", Big raised his hands in abject appeasement, giving an I'm-not-with-her sort of look as Derek raised an eyebrow across the hallway at him, "I'm the rightful queen of the ice out there, your days are numbered! You, get full"; _yes ma'am_; there were some times in life when it wasn't worth arguing and Mighty in this mood was definitely one of them – there was an almost ferocious zeal in her eyes as Roddy's impudent raspberry rasped across the hallway to answer her challenge, "I need a decent warm-up duel and then I'm going to rub his face in the snow so deep you'll have to wait until midsummer for it to thaw out!"

XXX

Any lingering sense of misfortune the cat felt towards Roddy lasted only until Mighty threw open the doors of the Highland Steppes once more and he beheld the bedlam before him – in such a chaotic, rough-and-tumble environment there was no chance anything like a frown or a sneer could possibly have survived. Save the few who were still inside eating, Roddy who felt he needed to sit this one out and, of course, Stefan, for whom even the idea of fun on this sort of scale was anathema, every member of Mighty's family was currently battling it out on a field that, having once been snow-white and pristine, was now looking distinctly ruffled as the Mobians swarmed all over it, tearing ragged handfuls of virgin snow from the ground, compressing it into useful ammunition and hurling it towards a distant, indistinct target only to repeat the process minutes later. The snow was constantly in use and being recycled at a frantic pace; in some of the cases Big saw it had no sooner broken over the shells and fronts of those it had impacted on than it was back in the form of another snowball and being returned to sender with interest. _Speaking of which_; spying a handful that had somehow escaped detection, clustered on one of the porch crevasses as it was, Big seized his chance for a little payback; a second later Mighty jumped at the sudden cold and span around to glare at him evilly,

"You are so going to pay for that"; he grinned in the face of her challenge,

"Oh and you weren't just asking for it after this morning?" He leered at her before a shape in the background caught his eye, taking shape more and more as he focused on it, "Sam? What are you…?"

"Baby-sitting", Mighty's youngest uncle glanced up to give a nod at where his niece and her partner were now descending the stairs of the Steppes towards where he was now sat on top of what looked like an air-bed, Jess in his arms wriggling like a pinned snake as her father fought to keep a grip on her enthusiasm for what she could see in front of her, "and if she gets any more excited I'm going to have to start taking that literally, gets it from her mum you know?"

"Right", Mighty drawled as she stooped down in front of him, one of her fingers reaching forwards to tap the point of her cousin's tiny chin, "and I suppose you're not absolutely busting your shell not to be out there spoiling for a fight yourself?" Samson drew himself up proudly,

"No of course not, well", he deflated his own ego a minute later, a little more candour in his words as he made his admission, "not too much anyway. Hey, get back here", scrambling forwards he just about managed to grab his infant daughter's foot before Jess managed to clear the airbed entirely, dragging her back into his arms with a light-hearted reprimand, "one of these days I'm gonna put you on a bungee cord ya little tearaway – reminds of someone else at this tender age". Big shook with mirth as Mighty attempted to look innocent before Sam's accusing gaze but cracked in mere seconds as he pursed his lips and raised eyebrows in concert,

"What? I was fine as a kid…"

"Yeah, if we hand-cuffed you to something and set a guard twenty-four-seven, then you were completely manageable. Don't listen to a word she says Big", the cat tried to look wise at the same time as avoid giving into his giggles as both armadillos turned to regard him, the elder of the pair speaking first, "first chance she had she was off, not that I can blame her all that much", he glanced around, his voice dropping to a temperature colder than the snow around them, a prelude to what Big was certain was coming, "if I had Stefan looking after me all year I'd be making a break for it first chance I got up here. Ah, you took your time"; the answer came before the cat could see who Sam was speaking at though he recognised the voice,

"And you won't be later", Paula riposted, curling her thick brush of a tail around her body in order to paw away some of the snow and ice that been embedded in it, the remnants of well-aimed snow missiles, "I just made the most of it while I had the chance; you armadillos keep time about as well as you get yourselves organised, or at least you do, the rest are all right". Sam snorted before pointing downwards, his finger trained on his daughter as she crawled towards her mother, Paula stooping to seize the inquisitive infant, rubbing her nose against her daughters slowly as her partner launched his riposte,

"Disorganised? Listen mush, the night after you said you wanted to be a mum someday I made sure you'd get that wish granted – try telling me that's not quick off the mark", Paula scowled at the same time Big tried not to shake with mirth; _try to hide it all you like but you've gone red as a beetroot there lady_; "and I resent you going around fobbing everyone off with the old line that I'm to blame for you not having a band of gold round your finger – all I'm doing is waiting for you to tell me when and I'll take it from there".

The little snow that had been left in Paula's tail was shaken free as the squirrel bristled at her partner's bare-faced cheek; dexterously flipping and folding Jess in her arms, she squared right up to where Samson was pulling himself to his feet, now slightly taller than her as he was stood on the airbed,

"All right, you're on", neither of the other two Mobians said a word, neither of them dared as Paula, her daughter held in her arms like a newspaper about to be unfolded and read, squared up to the armadillo and stated her demands, "before Jessie turns eighteen months I want us married and take it from me if we're not I'll be using your shell as a bob-sleigh this time next year". Samson nodded, not giving an inch as he raised a hand; Big fancied he could almost see him catching the fiery squirrel's words as she spoke them, holding them tightly as he closed it to a fist,

"Fine by me; we'll be wed in the spring-time, leave the rest up to me, I'll get it organised".

"You hear that?" Big jumped and had to catch Mighty in the same movement – she'd been as startled as he had when Paula had turned and speared them both with the same finger, a triumphant, almost maniacal gleam in her eyes as she crowed triumphantly, "I call you as witnesses to that; you heard him say what he was planning, you'll be there to testify if I haven't worn the white dress come the end of April?"

"Umm, yeah, sure"; _thank you, a thousand thank-yous_; Big let out a low, relieved breath as Mighty answered for the pair of them – he'd been too stunned to even consider thinking about answering, "well, you heard the lady Sam, better get your thinking cap on". Her uncle chuckled, though his laughter died slightly as he turned his head once more and stepped off the air-bed; his eyes never left Paula's face, not even when he reached down and tickled his daughter's chin, making her gurgle happily – he spoke to Mighty without even glancing at her,

"Later I will; now I'm going to get my gloves on and go fighting; go on", suddenly he did look at them and the fire in his eyes was so open and all-consuming that Big finally did make a break for it, barely hearing the armadillo's last words as he sprinted for the open ground, plunging headlong into the battle that raged in front of him, "five second hand-start, then I come hunting; got a load of shells from the rest of them all ready but I'm betting my Jess would love a nice, warm cat-hair blanket to wrap herself up in!"

XXX

Chaos; that was the only word that could even come close to explaining what this one – even in a lifetime of hearing, understanding and deciphering words spoken to him at all times and in many different languages Big couldn't think of a single one that came even close to encapsulating the roiling, seething, madness of merriment that immersed him now – even chaos was a pale shadow for what this snowball fight actually was. There was no plan, there were no sides; it was every man for himself, keep your head down, pick your targets and damn the rest – his fingers were numb even through reinforced gloves but still he crouched, grabbed snow by the fistful, balled it up roughly and hurled it blindly towards the largest gaggle of armadillos he could see; even if he missed, which he usually did, the splat of the snow would usually paint one or two with slush and provoke a furious response which he did his level best to avoid. Once more he ducked down both to gather up his latest missile and to simultaneously dodge as a barrage of snowballs whistled past his ears; sure they weren't aimed at him as they were flying way too high over his head to count as a genuine attempt at his well-being, the cat stood to his full height, compressing the snow between his paws softly enough to ensure the huge boulder wouldn't contain a shard of potentially dangerous ice at the same time as making sure it would be easy to throw; _aha!_ A predator's smile flashed over his face, the tips of his canines showing as he recognised a sudden laugh and retort to some comment or other; spinning around, he took a quick, rough guess at the distances involved, tried to remember the elementary physics behind such simple ballistics, then decided it simply wasn't worth the effort and hefted the snowball up to this shoulder before launching it skyward at the ducking, diving armadillo he'd picked out as a target.

_Sweet as a nut_; it had felt good from the second he'd let it go and, as the back he knew so well continued to jig in just the direction he needed it to go, Big realised that unlike most of his earlier efforts this one was going to land right on the money. Or, in this case, it was going to land on the money-maker of his girlfriend's family; though he was sorely tempted to simply let nature take its course, his huge heart just wasn't up to it and so, seconds before impact, he took down a breath and let his voice ring out its warning,

"Oh Emmie", the armadillo spared him a glance but no more; for a second he thought he'd have to elaborate but the way his girlfriend's mother in law suddenly whipped back around with her arms up high let him know she'd seen what was coming. _And no chance to get out the way of it either_; her arms had instinctively sprung up to cover herself as much as she was able to but against such a mighty snowball, there was no way Emily was going to stand a direct hit without getting covered – with a flump that even he could hear, Big roared with laughter as the smaller armadillo got flattened by his sneak attack. Laughter that quickly died as, much like her daughter would have done, Emily exploded up from the snow entombing; next minute Big was forced to duck and dive as the enraged part-coyote flew at him, snowballs flying from her hands so quickly it almost appeared she was firing them from some kind of gatling gun,

"Oh Big", as he stooped low to the snow to try and minimise the target he presented and cursed silently as he realised that really wasn't doing much for him in the grand scheme of things, the cat had to grit his teeth as he recognised her use the same irritating, sing-song voice he'd just imparted in his warning, "time for a little payback".

"Duly received", the cat called over his shoulder as he felt several impacts on his tail and back, "now look out, bandits at eight o'clock". For a second he was afraid she wouldn't believe him but as his keen ears, even wind-chilled as they had been, were able to pick out the sound of a startled oath and a rallying cry, Emily using his early warning signal to turn the tables on those who would otherwise have ambushed her; _right, hopefully that's me back in her good books now_. Breathing a sigh of relief even if his never dropped his hair-trigger reflexes; in this fight he'd quickly learnt that there was no such thing as a second's pause as the minute you slowed down to rest you got buried, the cat was able to snatch a quick breath and look over his shoulder at where the armadillo he'd come to like and mutually respect more than was average for his girlfriend's family was facing off against the shadowy silhouettes he'd seen in the background threatening her from the back. Actually, there were more there than he'd first thought and he stooped once more, grabbing smaller chunks of snow this time as it seemed speed would be more important than big shots in this instance; skilled and swift Emily might have been in this kind of combat but even she was struggling four-on-one. Luckily all her opponents seemed to be younger and more excited than she was, most of their snowballs whizzing overhead or fizzling out in the snow around her feet as she put a little more consideration into her retaliatory firing – though most of them missed as well, they were forcing her aggressors to shift about, duck and dodge and disrupt their own attacks. It was a stalling tactic, simple but effective and was shielding her from the worst of their family attentions, but it was not a fight she was likely to win up until the point Big threw his considerable weight behind her attempts at self-defence.

Like howitzer shells his heavy ordnance fired from over her head, showering and peppering the other armadillos in drifts of snow and making them squeal in outrage at their plans going so horribly awry. To her credit Emily didn't even look to see where the help from an unexpected quarter was coming from, she kept on nailing her shots with sharp-eyed precision and a head cooler than the snow at her feet; eventually the combination of saturation shelling and sharp sniping took its toll and, with a last yell to break from combat, first one, then the other three of the armadillos who had been hoping to ambush their aunt ran from the victorious duo, their alliance fracturing even as Big watched them depart and shook his head as snowballs began filling the air between the previous rogue's partnership.

"And serves you right, little sneaks"; _I suppose it does, in a way_; even as the thought crossed his mind the cat rolled his shoulders in a shrug – at the end of the day fairness wasn't really what was today was all about, this was a war in which no-one could feel pain or bereavement and for that he was grateful. With a breath he could hear even from his distance the armadillo put her hands on her hips and started towards him, not dropping her reflexes all that much as she glanced up, something dangerously close to respect in her eyes as she nodded curtly, just once,

"Thanks".

"My pleasure", the first lull he'd had in what seemed like hours and he was going to take it; dropping his hands to his knees the cat sucked down deep breaths of the frosty winter air, the chill of it seeping straight through his chest and helping to cool the blood pounding around his body, "man, best work-out I've had in a long time".

"Same here, sure beats running for the last taxi to get to the last flight anywhere", Emily agreed with him, finally getting her breath back as she enjoyed a brief break from the continual battle, "any sign of my daughter per chance, at least"; _here we go then_; he could virtually taste the anticipation about what was coming next and could only brace for it, try and grin in the face of it as the older Mobian's sly, crooked expression regarded him calculatingly, "any sign of her since first thing this morning; from what my other half tells me you were having rather closer encounters than he would have liked at that time".

"Hey that was completely her idea; I mean", Big tried hastily to correct himself as Emily was suddenly forced to look away, shoulders absolutely heaving and one hand clapped over her mouth, "she started it, hit me with a snowball first thing in the morning – if that's not chilling to one's ardour I don't know what is".

"Ha, how about", with a visible effort the armadillo pulled herself back together, "how about one to a rather, lower region; Derek told me all about it earlier rather than eat another snowball – told him I could still run faster than him even at my age but would he believe me?" Finally re-oxygenated, Big pushed himself back to his full height and immediately his massive stature afforded him a sight that gladdened him immensely,

"Ah that's good – he shouldn't be cooped up inside all day, get out in the open air with everyone else, bet place for him".

"Who?" It was only at the sudden squawk of mingled shock and confusion that Big realised his arms had moved on autopilot from his brain; blushing profusely, he could only apologise as Emily smoothed down the sides of her coat, the material there rumpled under the pressure of his huge fingertips,

"Please forgive me", he spoke in a voice so thick it felt he could see it congealing in the fog of his breath on this windswept day, "I just…we were taking about her, Mighty I mean, I always pick her up when she needs to see things". Grudgingly he brought his face around to see his girlfriend's mother eyeing him up beadily – his relief when she cracked a smile was even more tangible than the heat on his face,

"I'll bet; I don't mind, just a little warning next time please? Mighty might have gotten used to it but the rest of us aren't used to just being craned into the air by our shell-sides, sensitive skin around there you know?"

"I should have guessed", the cat gave ground graciously before launching himself back on the front foot, stealing the initiative back with a stunning riposte, "I'll just hoike you up by your ankles next time then?" Emily spluttered, though whether from outrage or outright admiration at the audacity of his comeback he couldn't be sure,

"You do", she managed to choke, the tip of her finger quavering as she tried to skewer him with it, "you even try and, and I'll…I'll, oh just take a knee!" _Eh?_; it wasn't until she flattened her palm towards the ground that he understood the strange instruction and obediently sank to one knee in the soft snow, ignoring the sudden strain on patches of his fur a second later as Emily clambered ungraciously onto the raised platform of his extended thigh, clinging onto handholds in his fur and looking over her shoulder,

"What were…ah, I see now", as he'd expected the vision had brought a smile to her lips, "good for him, must have wanted to get a head-start. Heh", Big also smiled as the armadillo quite literally on his knee chuckled; he also kept up a fervent hope that anyone who happened to be noticing this little scene of his would have the brains or the decency to keep their lips buttoned when around Stefan – even after a few days of knowing him he could easily guess what the grey-shell would have though to his wife being in this position with a stranger, "looks like he got a bit of company too; ah, that's it lad, show her how it's…hoi, whoa!" _Now they really better keep stumm_; he'd grabbed her reflexively as, unsettled by both him half-standing and the way his fur bristled as the injustice perpetrated itself right in front of his eyes, Emily had lost her grip and started sliding towards the floor – having held her close for a second the cat abruptly put her back on the floor, mumbling something about being sorry for not giving her a bit of warning. An apology that, judging by the way Emily shrugged and swiftly grabbed for his hand, predator genes in control as her firm sense of right and wrong demanded the guilty party be brought to justice and needing a witness for the prosecution, seemed to be completely unnecessary,

"Come on"; _I'm coming, I'm coming_; Big caught up with the events a second later and began moving completely under his own steam, sliding across the snow deceptively quickly for such a large Mobian, managing even to keep pace with Emily as she snarled, the quarry in her sights, "new member or not that's going too far – no way is she getting away with that!"

XXX

_Aha, Watson_; just this once Mighty found herself wishing for a smoking pipe and tweed jacket; _the game is afoot, follow and hail a cab good fellow, the streets of London are most worrisome this time of year_. Though it was an endearing image, huddled in the snow as she was now Mighty was forced to concede that the normal attire of one of her teenage heroes wouldn't have been wholly appropriate to the game she was partaking in; after all, how could you have possibly lit a pipe that's had a snowball shoved down the smoke-hole? Still, as she crept and crawled towards her unsuspecting prey, the smaller, lighter Mobian completely in the dark about the hunter at her back, believing she was protected by her slight figure and the small scrape of cover she'd found in the bowels of the grounds of the Highland Steppes. How false that illusion was Mighty was about to show her but not yet, not yet; she was still a little too far away to risk an all-out rush – going by what she'd seen last night Mina was a slippery enough eel to slither away from her clutches and jeopardise all her good work so far. Once more she had a minute of fleeting regret about what she was doing; once more she squashed that regret in injustice, how horribly her pocket had been picked this time last year and her promise, no, more than that, her outright demand that the same fate was not going to befall her a second time around. Another pace she took, most of her normal clothing completely white by now due to all the slush and snow that had been flying around so far, the colouring helping her blend in with the surroundings, aiding her disguise as she inched her way across the almost open ground, her breath catching in her throat every time the mongoose stooped for a little more ammunition, every twitch of her little, shell-like ears, fear of detection so close to her goal stilling the desire for revenge, to consummate her perfect plot and take back what was rightfully hers. A step closer, then another; she froze, not even daring to blink her eyes as the lavender sheet before her, flecked with white from numerous snowball hits, rose up and then ducked down once more, payload delivered and back out of sight before her target could realised the direction of attack; _no trouble I wasn't seen_. The armadillo took a third, final step forwards, the prey in front of her crouched down, perfect position as Mina went for another snowball; _now!_

With a roar that made the airborne snowflakes quiver Mighty launched herself forwards, half-frozen snow crunching in her boot-prints like the brittle bones of an ancient burial pit; Mina jumped around, though thankfully not backwards as far as the armadillo charging her was concerned, and her face when suddenly bloodlessly white. Drawing on that primal fear Mighty let a feral snarl bedeck her face for a moment, not even flinching as the snowball, Mina's last, meagre weapon for self-defence, went whizzing past her left ear, the younger Mobians' aim destroyed by a combination of fear and the speed of her target; _no chance, turn and run_; belatedly the mongoose did but by then, with the full force of her momentum behind her, even she couldn't hope to outdistance her older half-cousin; _that just makes the kill all the sweeter_. She lunged forwards and something squealed, Mina's feet sparking up snow flurries from the souls of her boots as Mighty ripped her clean from the floor and crowed triumphantly in her ear, arms snapping as tightly as the coils of a constrictor snake with a mouse in its grip,

"Aha, who's this I've got…"

"Nooo-hhhooo!" The mongoose struggled gamely to get away, her desperation boosted further still as Mighty tickled her with a few stray fingers right where she'd pointed out the previous night, "Aunt Mighty, let goohhoohoho!" Ignoring her pleas and only holding her tighter, Mighty carried on as though no-one had spoken,

"…a little mongoose perchance; hmm, not much eating on a mongoose though, all bones and no real meat there; might as well let it go", she glanced down, just for an instant, just long enough to see Mina's little grey eyes start to widen in hope and expectation before digging her in the ribs again, making the mongoose collapse into laughter as she straightened up as though struck by a thought suddenly, "ah, but this little mongoose has a quick tongue on her. Hmm, no point eating that though, urgh, don't know where that tongue's been", if Mina had wanted to make a point here she wasn't able to force it out over her laughter and Mighty carried on unimpeded, "so back to the normal way of punishing the impudent. You missy", with a sudden strain of effort Mighty straightened her arms, her younger cousin squealing again, this time in fear as the ground sped away from her, "prepare to get rolled!"

"Don't roll me, don't roll me!" The mongoose screamed even if, deep down in some very vague part of her that really understood what was going on, she knew she was perfectly safe and that Mighty wouldn't let anything even close to harm befall her, "please Might, I'll never get it out my hair, it'll frizz up like nothing else". There was a long, torturous pause before her answer came back to her, the tone allowing her to breathe again as it was a more calculating tone that enquired her motives,

"So, you plea for mercy?"

"Yeah, yes of course I do, don't roll me in the snow; put me down, please?" She tried to make herself sound small and inoffensive even if compared to her massively muscled aunt she already was; the relief that flew around her body blew out of her in a deep breath of air that she heard as well as felt as, slowly, Mighty lowered her back to her feet,

"Hmm, well you are young, and I'm not all that hungry and in a good mood", she licked her lips and Mina shied away in mock-terror, secretly relieved as anything that she'd be able to quit this battlefield in one piece, "so I suppose I'll spare you that". As she'd expected the younger Mobian's face collapsed into a relieved, breathless expression; _wait for it, not just yet…_;

"Oh thank you", Mina hammed up the corny relieved look even if in all honesty she wouldn't have really cared much had she been sent rolling, "thanks for all your merciful…umm…bountinousness". Try as she might to keep a straight face the armadillo's façade crack a little at the word,

"That's a new one in the book for me Mina, but anyway, have a care you; I said I wouldn't roll you, I didn't say you were off the hook", the smaller Mobians ears twitched, not sure if this was a good or a bad thing as her older family member smirked evilly, "you want back into my good graces? Well, do you?" She added a second later as Mina didn't seem to understand; as soon as she did the mongoose sprang to attention,

"Er, yes aunt, I really don't want you mad at me".

"Clever girl. Well in that case, all you have to do – come a bit closer", cautiously creeping forwards, the mongoose lent a chilled, flickering ear, "this is what you have to do. Unfair, I know, unkind, probably, but believe me as far as I'm concerned it's for the best and that's all that matters…"

_Ouch_; minutes later from her high vantage point Mighty had to hold her stomach suddenly as the scene before her played out; _that was genius – Mina love, I didn't mean you to take it that literally. Still, one hell of a move you pulled there_. And it had been; the target of the her attentions had been well and truly blindsided and was now standing knee-deep in the ruins of his work so far and glaring angrily at where Mina was dancing away out of range of his retribution; she would have got away too, had not the bellowed command compelled her to stay exactly where she was; _oh no, I know that voice. No choice here really is there_; much as she'd like to slink away into the background Mighty was adult enough now to know when it was her turn to stand up and take the flak she deserved – standing up from where she'd been sitting to get a full view of the action, she jogged down the incline to deflect any criticism from the younger Mobian she'd roped unwillingly into her cause.

XXX

He wasn't jealous, not at all; well, not really at least – it would have been nice to be with the others dodging away and catcalling insults to other members of his family, but he was just fine where he was, pushing the lump of snow already up to his waist over and over in a circle to make sure he picked up all the loose flakes that could be hoovered up by such a crude method. Taking a step back for a minute, the juvenile armadillo scratched an itch just under his shell hood and looked at his work critically; in his experience the bottom ball was the absolutely critical one as it formed the base of a proper snowman – get it wrong and poor old Frosty could well end up flat on his face. _Hmm, not too bad a shape_; resetting himself to the task, Roddy ran his calculations over in his head again, working out if it was worth adding more snow now or trying to knock off some of the looser clumps off now before they got a bit too big; _nah, they should smooth out if I get the rolling right. Hmm, which way?_; interesting question – even though the ground off to his right was still virgin snow and usually the best for making snowmen, the eventual fate of the shapeless blob at his feet, off to his left and just in front of him was a patch that had been warred over; compressed snow was more solid, making for a more stable base. He sucked his teeth for a minute, then nodded and, giving a push, got the snowball rolling towards his target land, pausing only to take cover behind it when a couple of stray projectiles whistled around his head and ears. _Wow_; instinctively he brushed a few pebbles of ice and flattened snow from the top of his shell as something impacted just on the other side of his pseudo-snowman; _that was a close one – come on you lot, shift your aim the same way your pecker aught to point – straight up!_

The smile on his face as he thought words he'd never have spoken in front of his parents, or anyone else in his family for that matter, fell in on itself a little as he felt himself fighting for control again for a moment; once more he wanted to be in the thick of it with wild joy thumping untamed through his mind and a cry of war in his throat but every time, at every instance such a thought crossed his mind a second image rose up and swallowed it whole, the cloak of death shrouding his latest victim. Visions of a snowball, _his_ snowball he bitterly reminded himself, going first pink, then red through aunt Fiona's bony fingers as he and the others he'd been playing with watched on, a wretched silence falling over them all as they instinctively understood that this had gone past a game, beyond a joke now. In truth he didn't remember much after that; he knew his aunt had been very, very ill and had to go to hospital to get well again, a fact that brooded ill on his young conscience, especially at this time of year. He shook his head, fracturing the images like a reflection in a pond before setting his shoulder to the ball in front of his feet, the work in front of him dulling the pain as well as the cold dulled his fingertips; _I'll go to the left now, save the right stuff for later, go from there I think_. With a nod he assured himself, reaching down to the bottom of his monstrous snowball again when a sudden call stopped him,

"Umm…hi?"

_Who are you again?_; much as he'd been reminded he just couldn't put a name to the face – he knew it began with M but that was as far as he could go. Disguising his confusion behind a cough, Roddy looked the mongoose who'd appeared from behind him as if from nowhere up and down, trying to work out what she wanted and, more importantly, what she was called,

"Err, hi", she cocked her head, sizing him up the way he must have been doing the same, "is this…I mean, your first time, up in Scotland that is?" She nodded, the movement rippling the scarf around her neck and sending a large clod of snow to fall at her feet; as Roddy tracked its descent with his eyes she cleared her throat and answered him,

"Yeah, yeah this is it; oh, Mina by the way".

"Thought it was", Roddy's answer was immediate, nodding enthusiastically as though he'd known that fact all along, "I'm Roddy, well actually my name's Roderick but everyone calls me Roddy; you can tell why right?"

"You bet I can", Mina answered with a very nice smile, the young armadillo thought, finding himself suddenly wondering quite why she was here; _not like I'm doing anything interesting, at least, not interesting compared to everyone else_. He sank into a bit of a reverie, a slight brain-trance that he only snapped out of when he realised suddenly that Mina wasn't looking at him directly, she was actually looking past him,

"Wha'ya doing?"

"I'm, er", it wasn't until he looked over his shoulder that he remembered himself, "I'm building a snowman". Those sharp little grey eyes narrowed a second in confusion; _why? I know Aunt Mighty said he always did, but I thought that was only in the afternoon_;

"Shouldn't you be waiting until…?"

"I get a head-start", Roddy cut her off, a little too loudly for his own liking, his voice hollow and booming, maybe even a little scary for someone not used to it, "well, more practise than a head-start; don't like snowball fighting".

In perfect honesty Mina would have said in later years that she had always meant to ask the killer question when Roddy admitted to this; the question of 'why'? In fact her mouth had fallen open in order to allow the necessary syllables to peep through and form the question but just before the first one could be uttered, in the split-second before her brain completely OK-ed the query she glanced up into Roddy's face and caught the barest edge of his warning look – in the next split-second she'd snapped her jaw shut for that was a look she, perhaps she better than anyone else in her new family, knew all too well. More than a few of her former friends from the many care homes and foster houses she had been pillared and passed around between had given her that draining, daring glare; it was an expression that warned of forbidden territory ahead, do not ask what you were about to ask because I won't ever want to talk about it. It was something she knew and she'd grown to respect, truth be told it was even something she'd employed on more than one occasion as she had her own secrets that she didn't want to speak of and, as such, she respected the privacy of others much more than a child of her age might have been expected to. Quickly disguising her former query as a gesture of surprise, rather badly she thought in hindsight, the mongoose attempted to look interested rather than intently curious.

"Oh, okay then; gets a bit old after a while I guess", she said with a shrug, trying to think of something else to say that would firstly make sure the nasty silence coiling around them wouldn't thicken any further, and secondly that standing around doing nothing wasn't going to help her achieve the mission Mighty had appointed to her, "are you….are you, good at building them?" _Whew!_; that had been a shot in the dark and no mistake so the sight of Roddy's face suddenly splitting into a grin came a real shot in the arm for her flagging hopes; with a depreciating laugh the armadillo back-heeled the snow behind him and replied with more than a hint of smug pride in his voice,

"Huh, you bet I'm good, been champion two years running now, gotta make it three this time round". Mina's eyebrows rose,

"Really, twice; that's a real…a real", the word escaped her, she had to fall back to simpler language, "that's really neat in a family mad about snow like this one. Roddy…" she let a thoughtful expression cross her face before giving an excited clap, struck by a great revelation, "…I remember, I remember now, dad said about you".

_Okay, what did he say about me?_; Roddy felt a little uncomfortable prickling sensation just under his shell – it was the same feeling he got when he knew he'd put too many toes over the line and his mum had got to hear about it. He didn't get on exactly well with Uncle Kerry and Aunt Kirsten, if anything he tolerated them and they extended him the same courtesy; he'd never really had a chance to get to know them all that well. Still, exactly what they'd told Mina about him he could guess and, as only one particular example of former conduct was sticking out in his mind at the minute, he was crossing his fingers and hoping against hope that Uncle Kerry hadn't mentioned the one incidence of his bad behaviour that he and everyone else really, truly regretted had ever occurred.

"He said you were one of the really strong ones, really strong armadillos like Aunt Mighty".

"Oh", it was such a relief that he wasn't sure exactly what to say, "yeah, I'm ah, I'm what they call a throw-back, Mighty is too", he mentioned defensively – from what he'd been told being a throw-back wasn't anything to be proud of and he made sure that he wasn't the only one that was going to be snared into that trap. Mina's reaction, however, wasn't the one he'd been expecting; rather than ask anything she took a pace to the side – more to keep her in his vision than anything else Roddy tracked her movement, not sure what she was up to and not comfortable with exposing his back to her,

"Hmm", she gave a slight hum in the back of her throat, the looking him up and down before shaking her head again, "you don't look all that strong; sorry", she blushed and covered her mouth with one hand as Roddy glowered; _how rude did that sound?_; "I didn't mean it like that, you just look really normal". The explanation was hasty and muffled through the material of her thick glove – for a horrid second she was sure he hadn't been enough and that the armadillo before her rejected her ideas of reparations; only when he gave a dismissive snort and rolled his shoulders did she dare draw breath again,

"I don't look it, none of us do. Watch!" Having always been something of an extrovert, Roddy looked around for something to prove his power with; _that'll do_; and seized the closest object, his own partially-formed snowman. Despite its relatively small size it was still a fairly heavy chunk of snow, even more so now it had been rolled and partially compressed to ice, far too much for a normal child to handle; with the benefit of his recessive genes, however, Roddy had no such problems. Digging his fingers into the top of the mighty snowball, he lifted and twisted in the same movement, keeping his purchase on his prize at the same time as raise it squarely above his own head. Flushed with pride at his achievement though he knew that if he tried he'd do so much better, he slowly revolved around on the spot to crow of his achievement, Mina standing in front of him now looking suitably awestruck,

"Well", he said in a ragged gasp, really wanting to put the weight above his head down as it was starting to freeze his fingers, "don't look it, don't let that fool you".

"I guess not", the mongoose managed to murmur; suddenly her gaze was broken form the snowball and she lunged forwards, a devilish smile on her lips at the same time her trap was sprung, "electric shock!"

Hearing the challenge and knowing that, after what his dad had done to him the previous night in punishment for his wandering off and crossing swords with Big, the armadillo knew he didn't want to be on the receiving end of that and immediately dropped his guard, ready to defend himself from the lightning sneak attack. Unfortunately, in his understandable haste to get himself ready for the rumble, he'd neglected to remember the rather pressing matter of what he'd left behind in order to protect himself. In fact it was only when he saw Mina pull to an almost dead halt, eyes suddenly wide and shocked, trained at a point above his head, that he recalled the rudiments of gravity and knew, suddenly just knew exactly what was about to come crashing down upon them both.

Freed from its support, what had once been a snowball suddenly found itself suspended in the air for a brief second before it was dragged down to earth once more; Roddy didn't even have time to duck, dodge or otherwise try to avoid the impact. Fortunately his shell saved him from too much damage, the thick natural armour withstanding the sudden impact on the crown of his head though the impact made him see stars for a moment, the concussive force rattling around in his skull as Mina was likewise caught in the impact radius. As the snowball exploded from where it had been arrested in its downward descent the mongoose took a decent amount of shrapnel all down her face and front, the pure whiteness caking her almost from head to toe. Blinking and dashing the white cloud from her eyes she looked forwards again and felt misery grip her to a certain degree; Roddy, not quite realising what a comical sight he made with a large, pointed hat of compressed snow still resting on his shell top, was looking around a little confusedly, not registering what had happened and why it had happened. Guilt seemed to pool in the young Mobian's stomach; _Aunt Mighty never meant this to happen, she just said disturb his efforts, not break them_; her mouth was dry yet she forced it open anyway, taking down a biting breath of winter air to being her belated apologies, only to have it snap shut once more, the wind ripped out of her sails as another voice came lancing in overhead,

"Hoi, you pair, stay where you are!"

XXX

Emily's shout had frozen them both just long enough; as Big felt himself slither to a halt he drew himself up short at where the older Mobian had already stopped and was inspecting the damage, her fingers brushing the snow off Roddy's head and now combing his ears, checking they hadn't been crushed or lacerated by the mammoth impact they'd just been exposed to. Mina stood to one side, one toe scuffing the floor at her feet as she didn't dare look or speak, instinctive respect for an adults order pinning her in place and preventing her making a bolt for it.

"Right", slowly letting her nephew's shell-top loose, Emily finished her inspection with curt instructions for the wounded, "you've been lucky Roddy, nothing's cut from what I can tell. Just go steady for a bit, that was a heck of a thump you just took. As for you", Mina trembled, Big so badly wanted to step forwards and try to cool Emily off but at the same time forced himself not to – the mongoose had done a trick that could have resulted in a more serious injury than had happened; if Roddy had been any other species that armadillo it could have been an awful lot worse than it actually had, "Mina I'm disgusted with you…"

"Sorry", the mongoose managed to mumble; Emily, however, was feeling far too bloody-minded to let her off easily now,

"…it's too late for that now. What would have happened if that had been a bigger snowball, Roddy might have had his skull cracked open by…"

"Wait!" The shout came just in time; all present looked across as Mighty, ducking a last couple of errant snowballs dogging her heels, pounded through the trampled snow to join them, chest heaving as she gasped for air, "don't, phew, don't have a go at Mina", she looked over at where the mongoose appeared on the verge of tears, giving her a fortifying nod, telling her without words that this wasn't her fault, "I had a, a word with her earlier; she was being a smart-aleck last night and I caught her just now".

"So?" Emily questioned her daughter, not altogether unfairly, "you saw what just happened; the only thing that kept Roddy's head in one piece was the shell surrounding it". Mighty chuckled, slapped her knee and, having finally recovered her breath, stood to her full height,

"Nothing in there worth losing even if he did break it, but anyway", her mother's stern look told her she hadn't found that amusing in the slightest, "I caught her, Mina that is, just now, told her that Roddy always gave himself a head-start in building his snowman and that was cheating; I told her that unless she wanted to me to give her a good roll in the white stuff she had to knock all his early work out of him". With a gesture she beckoned; after a second, stepping carefully lest she draw unwanted attention to herself, Mina crossed over and took the pro-offered paw, taking gladly the sanctuary it represented for her; Mighty looked down at her for a second, face softening in benevolence before facing Emily again, conscience clear as she took the rap for what had been her idea in the first place,

"Don't blame her, I asked if she'd distract him until the competition started; thanks Mina, you did what I asked", she gave a slightly rueful chuckle, the mongoose managing a weak smile as her eyes flitted between her aunt and her great-aunt, "next time though, don't do such a good job of it".

All was still for a minute, Emily taking it upon herself to play the role of mediator in the complex drama; logically processing everything that her daughter had just said she attempted once more to make the punishment fit the crime. In doing so, however, she failed to notice someone behind her making his own plans; Roddy pricked his ears and, realising that with his would-be snowman now more of a snow-lump, heeded the silent summons as he had nothing better to do. Even as he reached the massive cat that had beckoned him he quashed his ideas for questions as Big put a finger to his lip; as he squatted down and began to whisper, his words were muffled by Emily coming to something like a decision in her own mind – ignoring the frantic signals Mighty and Mina were both sending way as they sought to enlighten her to the skulduggery at her back, the eldest present spoke once more,

"Well, Mina look on this as a lesson when up here with the rest of us; if someone asks you to do something a bit fishy make up a reason why you couldn't do it. But as for you, you've got no excuse; I've a good mind to tell Nessie not to count your snowman in the competition at all after this blatant cheating". Mighty's mouth fell open; _she did not just say that, or if she did she definitely didn't mean it_;

"Mum that is definitely unfair!"

"Wait, stop, cease and desist", before she could get any more impetuous behind her arguments Mighty found herself choked off by Roddy walking forwards, arms upraised in a promotion of peace; _what are you up to – hmmm…_; catching the barest hint of a smile on the bewhiskered lips of her boyfriend she gave a slightly concerned scowl; _…nothing good if you've been involved I'll bet._ Quite what was running through her nephew's mind she had no idea so she, like everyone else present, had to wait for his uncharacteristically calm explanations,

"No need to adjudicas…aducate…adj, judge this one aunt Emily", he said with a polite smile, the word 'adjudicate' defying his vocabulary for a moment, "I've got a plan; okay you pair", with one movement he'd pulled the glove off his right hand and whipped it around the cheek of his older relative and then, much more softly on the backswing, against the side of Mina's face, setting down his challenge, "I challenge you, both of you that is, to a contest, no-one else involved, just two teams going at it head to head, winner takes the title of best snowman builder. The gauntlet", with a theatrical flourish he hurled his glove on the floor, "is thrown down; who's man enough to take it up?"

For a second neither other Mobian answered, both were too shocked by the impacts they'd felt; Mighty rubbed her cheek at the same time as stare down at her nephew dumbstruck, mute fascination at his action suspending her normal cutting retort with shock. In fact she was so taken aback by Roddy's, if not unexpected completely formal and calculated challenge that only a voice by the side of her brought her attention back to the present,

"Right, you're on", outraged at being treated in such a manner, Mina stooped and seized the glove from its bed of snow, thrusting it back to the armadillo it belonged to with a haughty snort, "me and aunt Mighty'll take you on, and we'll win won't we? Won't we?" It was only when the mongoose glanced over her shoulder at her that Mighty realised she was being addressed,

"Umm, yeah, course we will", a bit more with the times now, she even managed a steely glare at the challenger, one hand protectively coiling around Mina's slim shoulders, "you think you can take on the pair of us pal? Boy have you bitten off more than you can chew this time". Roddy smirked,

"Maybe, but I reckon he's got a big appetite; he's the one helping me".

"Oh is he now?" Mighty raised an eyebrow as she followed the younger armadillo's thumb to where Big was trying to look innocent, huge lips creased into a knowing smirk, "well, on your heads be it". _Will it now – well it's already been on Roddys'_; typically, however, just as the cat opened his mouth to snap his comeback to his girlfriend, someone else ended up putting words into it for him,

"Maybe, maybe not", Emily, who'd been a silent arbitrator for most of the proceedings, stepped forwards, a referee in this sudden-death situation, "okay, the way I see it is that you pair", she pointed at the boys, Big stepping forwards to cast Roddy into shadow as the armadillo folded his arms, "are going head-to-head against you two", Mighty nodded, eyes never dropping even when she accepted the challenge offered, Mina likewise offering her acceptance of the terms, "to see who can build the better snowman. Okay, I think I can handle that", Emily clapped her hands and the duelling quartet leaned in to listen, her suggestions well-courted by all as she outlined her plans, "listen up, here are the rules you're working to; you both start when everyone else does, no extra time for the pair of you, and Nana Nessie gets the final say on which is better – you don't argue with her". It was a challenge as much as a statement and all present knew that; they also knew it was perfectly true – a chorus of affirmations let Emily know she'd got their promises on that one and emboldened she continued,

"Okay, one last thing though, this is a head-to-head so neither of you are going to get judged for the overall prize, you're working in a team after all, wouldn't be fair on the others. All agreed?"

"Yes aunt Em".

"Sure mum"; both present armadillos answered while the other two Mobians in this challenge simply nodded their agreement,

"Good, I'll let Nessie know soon as; until then, you better get your acts together and imagination in gear", the eldest present gave a smile that left none in doubt of her carnivorous inheritance, "only an hour and a bit until we get star-blumph!"

Everyone scattered and dived for cover as Emily half-inhaled the snowball that came out of nowhere and half-engulfed her face; Big and Roddy sprinted from the impact zone as Mighty set about gaining revenge for her mother, the sight of the panther who now stood with a knowing smile on his silver-furred lips a violent stick in the anthill of her rage and granting her extra speed in her missiles,

"David, I don't care how many doctorates you've gotten your greasy paws on now", the armadillo raved, the barrage of snowballs launched from over her head telling her that she was being backed up by her mother even if Derek was still defying his years and darting away from her aim with the ease and grace of a feline ballet dancer, "nothing, but nothing is going to stop me proving you wrong in the field of ballistics; run all you like, but you're not dodging all of them". As the panther fled away she and Emily chased after him, Mina following after a second of looking a round and realised it would probably be more prudent to stick with them than be left to the tender mercies of those who would be her competition in fairly short order. The two remaining Mobians, team mates as they were now, shared a glance and hurried the other way, keen to be gone from the war-zone before any other disaster could follow on their heels.

XXX

"So", having finally found a safe haven untouched by the war his family was raging against itself, Roddy was the first to regather his breath and glance up at the cat he'd buddied up with, "what's the plan?"

"Huh?" _What plan – why's he asking me, he's supposed to be the snowman-building expert_; "what you on about?" The armadillo rolled his eyes as though Big were being obstinate on purpose,

"What are we building you dummy; you said we aught to work together so I thought you had a plan of what we'd be making. You do have a plan right?" Confronted with such driven hope Big found himself a good distance from comfort, having to reach back and tackle an itch that had sprung up between his shoulder blades,

"Not as such", he wheedled, hoping Roddy would be able to take the hint without having to be let down too much further, "but I'm sure we'll think of something".

"We'd better", without further ado the armadillo half-closed his formerly bulging eyes and brought one hand up to his chin, stroking it as though the movement would stir up his creativity even as his gaze hardened, his next words laced with venom Big was sure he didn't really mean, "I am not losing to them, not to girls anyway". The way the armadillo spat the word 'girls' made Big's shoulders shake even as he wracked his brain for a little inspiration, half-turning to see quite what they had to work with this time around – despite the snowball battle still raging all around, it looked like there was still at least a good acre, maybe acre and a half of completely untouched snow out there for them to play with. Fingering his lip the cat thought back, something like half an idea in his mind now as he remembered a very vague concept, back from his childhood, a film he'd been far too young to see but had at least got a glimpse of the front cover of, an old-fashioned thriller or horror movie. _I never did see it afterwards did I_; no, he hadn't but then again it didn't really matter – as far as his memory was concerned the vision he could see from the front of the video box was enough to go on; _and we've got enough to pull it off I reckon, yeah Roddy's strong enough to roll up the head and I'll get most of the body upright. After that, it'd just be some sculpting and we'd be away._

"Actually", he said at length, having rotated the idea over and over in his mind and found no obvious flaws, "think I might have something, assuming you're still not sure what to do yet?"

"Nah, I was going to say we made up a sports-car but I did that last year", the armadillo admitted, the reaching up to dust off the last few flakes of snow from the top of his shell from where Mina had sandbagged him utterly, "don't think it'd pass muster a second time around. Why, what's on your mind?"

"A picture", the cat said at length, still working out some of the finer details about how to make this sculpture come true, "something from a film I saw once, a long time ago; I doubt you'd have even heard of it. Listen though, I think we can pull it off but it'll be more like carving a shape out of a big ball of snow, rather than making a snowman the normal way. Reckon you could do that?" Roddy scratched an ear, a little puzzled about the complete ins-and-outs of what he was supposed to do but ready to go along with the cat's idea as his bank of inspiration was temporarily cleaned out,

"I guess so, what's the plan?" With a wicked smile the cat bent to whisper something, casting an eye around as he did so hoping to catch a glimpse of Might and Mina likewise planning but in this he was denied; _oh well, that'll just make it more a surprise for them when they see our sacrifice for their hopes of winning!_

XXX

With a stretch and yawn as she emerged into the bright new day, Bekka shook her head and, still holding the hot tray and a spare blanket deftly in her arms, easily identified where she needed to be next. Heading over to the back of the wheelchair she could see, the proprietor of the Highland Steppes announced her arrival quietly as Nessie put down the book she was reading to peer owlishly at the latest arrival for her,

"Here Ness", Bekka announced, setting the tray down across the arm-rests of the armadillo's mobility vehicle, "sumthin' tae keep oot the chill, an' an extra blanket if ye'be needin' it".

"Thank you Bekka", the wizened Mobian answered with a nod of her head, moving her remaining fully-functional arm to pour a little tea from the willow-patterned teapot she'd been provided with, "you know I swore a long time ago I'd never need any of this to pull through the traditional snowball fight, no tea, no blankets and most of all, no help to drag this old chariot over the snow and ice", she shook her head again, reaching down to take a pull of oxygen before finishing, "sounds foolish now, a younger woman trying to defy Old Father Time. A battle with only one winner there". Bekka nodded, settling herself down on the closest arm of Nessie's wheelchair at the same time as making sure she wasn't going to jar the steering column by mistake,

"Aye, true enough. But ye canna mak Time stan'still, ye gave 'im a damned braw sprint fer'is money, an' he'll be runnin' fer a few years yet I'll b'betting".

"A bet you'd be losing I'm afraid Bekka, ach, don't look that way", Nessie raised her half-paralysed hand as much as she was able to as the woman looked both alarmed and horrified at her morbid talk, "you know as well as I do I can't go on forever; I don't have long left, I can feel it even now. Because of that I need to see Wull and yourself tonight, in my room if you wouldn't mind; I'd like the two of you to act as witnesses to my will. It's all signed by the lawyers and the people who need to make it legal, but I'll rest easier knowing two old friends have seen it and liked what they read". She gave a smile, perhaps tinged a little with weariness and maybe even a pang of sorrow at what she might have been leaving behind when she finally found her last rest but Bekka didn't see it; she was too busy looking away, trying to choke down the sudden tears in her eyes and bile in her belly at Nessie's candid announcement; she did not want to face the idea of the armadillo she had known since virtually the day she had been born just suddenly not being there any more, absent from her hostel every Christmas time. Even if she knew it was now a matter of when that day came rather than if it did, it was still not something she wanted to face up to, nor was it a topic she wished to linger on; _now, focus on somethin' else, there's a whole family – wha's been pullin' ma garden up by the roots!_

The sight that eventually caught her eye was so subtle, and then when she'd finally realised what it was, so shocking that she had to stand up to take it in fully; only when the mammoth snowball seemed to turn a bit of a corner and its creator emerged from behind its bulk did she take in what she was seeing,

"Nessie man, yon guest o'yers, is he planning' t'clear all o'the white stuff awa'?" The armadillo looked up, teacup halfway to her lips and squinted, closing her weaker right eye as so to not blur the picture; just as Big heaved against one of the sides of his creation, the ball itself already bigger than he was even before he added more to it, the most venerable armadillo of all settled back in her chair and gave a chuckle,

"Oh aye, I almost forgot about that; there's been a little change to the contest this year – don't worry, nothing drastic", she amended smoothly, stalling the disbelief in Bekka's face even as she attempted to compute a change to one of the most sacred rites she had the privilege to be a part of every Christmas, "just a little feud being ironed out this year, nothing more".

"Right", the redhead said carefully, trying to work out the combatants in this challenge, "who's been ridin' burr on som'an else thus year?" Nessie chuckled, the memory of Emily telling her what was going on making her chuckle even now,

"All of them on each other, as it ever was; but no, this time it's Roddy and that cat of Mighty's up against Mighty herself and Mina, remember her, the little mongoose with the really long hair?"

"Oh a'course", Bekka affirmed a few seconds later having put face to unfamiliar name, "how's the wee sprat settlin' in noo?"

"Well it's her first time here and she's already up to her neck in a ruck with someone else in the family, so I reckon about as well as any of us could have hoped", the matriarch of the armadillo family mentioned, a twinkling smile on suddenly furtive lips, "apparently she submarined Roddy's normal early start on the building because Mighty twisted her arm – because of that we're where we are now, two teams against each other. As a plus though, because he's in a team and working just against his aunt Roddy's had to give up his crown this year; I don't think he'll mind though as long as he pulls through against his aunt".

"Ye reckon he wull?" The armadillo gave a snort of laughter, pointing at where Big had finally brought his snowball to a screeching halt and was now wiping his brow and looking around for something or someone,

"If that's anything to go by he's in with a decent shout, though how they're going to get a head on it is a bit beyond even me".

The two sat in silence for a little while, each lost in thoughts and drinking tea as and when they wished to, until a chance glance brought something else back to Bekka, a vague rumour she'd heard and, knowing that if anyone would have had a good idea it would be the Mobian she was sat next to, moved to verify or deny it,

­"Ye see those two o'er there now Ness", startled out of her reverie by her friends words, the armadillo followed Bekka's fingers to see the couple of Mobians she had pointed out, the two swinging someone along between them in a rhythmic pattern to the tune of 'one-two-three-and hup!', "micht ha'been hearin' things bu'I coulda sworn ane o'yer lot said they'd be tyin' tha knot fur next yur, how'd this come aboot?"

"Same way anything comes about with them", the ancient Mobian replied with a chuckle, seeing one of the newest additions to her family giggle as she was swung from her parent's arms, what looked like a small ball of snow being moved by her foot as Paula and Samson moved her along by the arms, "something about a dare or other such nonsense but who cares?" She gave a shrug, her wasted shoulders clicking as they brushed against the chipped, now-brittle sides of her shell, "as long as it sees them together what does it matter how?" Bekka nodded, reaching down and taking the finished tray off Nessie's lap with a practised movement at the same time as offer her comment,

"Well they were alus mad keen on each ither; ah 'member the first time he showed her roond this auld shack, ah reckon she were in the family way iven then, jus' hid it well. Unlike wha'ever tha' pair are up tae", she choked off a second later, seeing Roddy clamber ungainly up the back of his building partner and, once stable, the cat hand another snowball, much smaller than the one he had rolled but still substantial enough, up to him. For a second her heart was in her mouth, she was certain he'd drop in and probably knock Big into a coma, but he seemed able to bear the brunt of it and heft it steadily atop the one the cat had rolled, a gargantuan head crowning a boulder-like body, "ah dinna ken if tha's all of it, but ah'm no findin' a carrot tha' size for a nose!"

"It'll certainly be interesting to see and that's for sure", Nessie added carefully, slightly more at ease with the proceedings than Bekka was as she had seen so much more in her life, "though I hope I'm right when I say their doing more than just that as an entry; impressive it might be but size doesn't matter as far as I'm concerned; it's the look that matters".

"Ah dinne think ye'll be disappointed there man; they're up tae sommat", even as they both watched the cat, having set his diminutive partner back down, unsheathed his claws and set to the creation so far, causing snow to fly off in all directions in a series of flurries, "tho' wha' they're up tae's a complete bloody mystery".

XXX

_Okay, got the basic structure, now got to make it look realistic_; carving and cleaving his way through the virtually compressed snow as it was, Big tried to superimpose the vision in his memory onto the blank canvas before him, replicating the pattern of ululating bands as best he could in the circumstances. He started from the top down, figuring it would be better to strip away unnecessary weight from the top first rather than weaken the bottom and risk the whole structure coming down completely; it would also allow him to take a better guess about how thick the legs would be to be support the trunk of the body. Snow flew away in whirls as he gouged the rough chunks of snow into a more finished article, geed on by the sudden arrival of his working partner and his declaration that there was little more than an hour to go before the five o'clock deadline,

"An' we've got to be ready", the armadillo finished breathlessly, "I've gotta make sure we've got the whole thing set up; it'll look so funny when she's up there…"

"Quiet", Big warned him chidingly, "everyone's got ears you know, we don't want the girls to find out what we're up to do we?" Roddy shook his head disgustedly,

"No way, we've got to make sure ours is better than theirs; it will be won't it?"

"It will if we get it finished on time, now come on; got that fluffy stuff I asked for?"

"Yep", Roddy said proudly, indicating the hastily balled-up bundle of virgin snow he'd managed to cart over before anyone else had claimed it, "right, you need me up top to get things rolling up there?" The cat nodded and, taking that as his cue, the armadillo seized two handfuls of the snow and made ready to stand on the cat's head once more,

"Ready to go; remember to pack it down really well now, we don't want his head to fall off; not from that height anyway. And take a look at this, we might as well do it now while you're up there – see the pattern". Big indicated where he'd started the pattern and, after a minute's squinting, Roddy settled back down from his tip-toe and nodded hesitantly,

"I think so, you need that on the head as well?"

"Yeah, just also try to get the features very roughly right; it needs a very rough nose, really craggy eyes and cheeks and no hair style; that is important. He's completely bald, just like you lot; nothing on top, 'cept maybe snowflakes". Roddy stuck his tongue out for a second at the jibe before the Big gave him the boost he needed and he set to work; _easy now, might be able to get something else done while he's busy up there, just catch him if he falls._ So warned, the cat very gradually began to scrape out more of the continuing pattern as at the same time as try to ignore the freezing sawdust now drifting onto his ears, fallout from Roddy's work above his head,

"Hey, guess what?" The disembodied voice drifted down to him a few minutes later, just as he was beginning to wonder if he should hollow out the chest now or leave it until later, "those girls are seeing what we're doing; they look dead jealous".

"Well don't you be looking at girls now Roddy Armadillo, we've got more important things to deal with now", Big reminded him with a laugh, "don't forget, it was a girl who got us into this challenge and, if we get it right, it'll be a girl getting sacrificed to Jack Frost before this day's over. Know what you've got to say?"

"You bet; can't I knock it over while…?"

"No and that's definite Roderick", the cat told him sternly, his use of the armadillo's full name letting him know this point was completely non-negotiable, "that much snow, you'd crush or suffocate her – you don't want that do you?" There was a slight humming noise from over his head and for a second he wondered quite what his answer was going to be; he let out a slow breath quietly when it came back in his favour,

"Nah, I guess not; hey you", had he been in a position to Big would have shaken his head as it seemed Roddy was unable to resist the temptation to get under his opponent's shell and skin, "see this, this is going to be so much better than yours you'd never believe it!"

XXX

"Pay no attention Mina", Mighty called over as she heard her nephew's cat-call, standing up from the latest creation she'd managed to roll up to a decent size and looking over at where the mongoose was supposed to be sculpting the raw material she brought her; after a second of no response she was forced to raise her voice, "hey!" Mina jumped and looked around guiltily,

"Sorry". Mighty gave a snort and crouched, ready to pick the snowball up to transport it back to the major production area,

"You will be if we don't win this bet babe; take it from me when Roddy gets one-up on you, you never live it down. Come on, we've got three more dwarves to do yet, and are you sure that's quite big enough to be Snow White?"

"It'll do, we don't have time to really alter it do we?" Mina called back before blowing on her fingers, trying to coax some heat back into them; _they'll fall off in a minute if I'm not careful – oh to hell with it_; with renewed determination she plunged them back into the ball before her, trying to unlock the figure of the dwarf that she was sure was locked within this snowball itself; _I'm sure someone'll stitch them back on_. A grunt and slight plopping noise let her know she had company now; looking up Mighty was silhouetted against where the sun was beginning to set, forcing the mongoose to shade her eyes as the armadillo looked over at where their challengers had set up shop,

"Huh, call that a snowman", Mina flinched as her aunt unleashed full volume of her lungs across the desolate wasteland populated only by armadillos frantically seizing new snow to boost their flagging prototypes, "what is it aunt Nessie always says; size doesn't matter". There was a short pause before she was answered, the sight of Big shuffling around the side of his creation with Roddy gripping onto his ears like a crouched monkey made her guffaw out loud; as she was laughing her answer came echoing back to her as the younger armadillo regained his bearings again and spoke as he worked,

"It does when it's this big and this good; I hope you're ready to lose Mighty, if those are the best you can do". She scowled across the snow before turning to Mina; _perfect, just the motivation she needed – cheers Roddy_;

"You hear that Minnie; they think they're better than us? And are they?" The mongoose shook her head and snarled, crumbling a handful of snow in her fist as though Roddy's skull was trapped between her fingers,

"No chance, they're no good at all; come on aunt Mighty, let's show 'em!"

"That's the spirit, now get old Bashful over there up and running and I'll see to the other two, sorry, three. How we doing on time?" Mina checked her watch, a grave expression settling over her face as she registered how long was left to get their display ready,

"Not good – we'll have to get one done every quarter-hour. We better get a wiggle on"; Mighty needed no encouragement,

"I'm on it, get moving babe; nobody, but nobody beats me three times in a row when it comes to building snowmen. You with me Mina?"

"You bet – let's do this!"

Both teams, as well as the rest of the family equally, frantically strained themselves as much as they were able to as the deadline drew nearer, calling on every ounce of their creativity, every scrap of determination and exercising all the willpower they had to force freezing, snow-deadened fingers into the breach again and again, one eye always on the clock as the time wound down. Everyone carried on, no-one dropped out as Bekka disappeared into the dark hallway of the Steppes for a minute and re-emerged with a large brass gong; even when she struck the metal itself on Nessie's command, the sound rippling all across the plundered snow itself and instantly silencing all conversation, a couple of shifty individuals quickly made some last second adjustments to get their pieces finished. Then, as they saw the final judge rumble into view silently, her path guided slowly by Rebekka at her back, everyone stood in front of their work whether it be an individual effort or a team participation; how the snowman was built didn't matter, it was how well it stood within Nessie's view that mattered now.

XXX

The older armadillo settled back in her seat, keeping a beady eye on where the supposed snowman-maker was currently laid down docile in her mothers' arms at the same time her father was fighting hard to keep his face straight,

"Hmm", Nessie kept her expression studiously careful as she shifted her gaze from one to other of the parents, "are you sure this was all her own work?" Paula bit back a snort, rocking little Jess in her arms as though afraid she'd be upset by the accusation,

"Of course", she replied in a wryly hurt tone, "she did it all herself; I didn't lift a finger to make this little fellow and you know how much use Sam is at the best of times". The named armadillo said nothing, merely folded his arms contemptuously at the same time as Nessie answered her great-granddaughter-in-law,

"Don't I know that just. Well, as far as I can see he's certainly a cheerful little chap", she said with lightness in her voice, casting her eyes down to where the snowman Jess had supposedly built stood proudly, a mere six or so inches high and with two tiny chips of gravel for his eyes and a small icicle, snapped from the edge of one of the Highland Steppe's many birdbaths, protruding from his head as a nose, "just have to hope he doesn't end up buried before tomorrow if the weather closes in. Okay, you've convinced me; everyone, this year's champion".

As with most things around this time in the year there was no physical prize as such that awaited the winner of Nessie's verdict; instead there was a general hurrah for the victorious party which Jess appeared to be sleeping though, as well as a couple of venomous whispers from parties certain they'd been robbed and what they'd do take the title that they felt was rightfully theirs back at this time next year. Before the clamour could get too far started, however, Nessie raised her hands for silence, backed up by Sam's noticing and demanding quiet in a way that got everyone's attention,

"Hoi, you lot, button it!" When he was certain all were silent, he gave the nod to his dearly-beloved older relative, "sorry nana, all yours now".

"Thank you Sam; now, as most of you are probably aware this year we've had a bit of a backdrop to the usual competition", there was a ripple of laughter at this statement as it was obvious that one of the entries Nessie hadn't looked at yet provided a very obvious, and in truth faintly ominous, backdrop to the entire proceedings, "time to bury that hatchet now so I can't call this, it'll be a show of hands at the end for who you think the best is. Right then, when I grew it up it was always a case of ladies first, so; Kerry, don't do that when your daughter's looking – the last thing she needs right now is bad habits from you", the named armadillo went red as both his wife and the mongoose he now loved and cherished as a daughter sniggered at where he'd been caught out mouthing off at one of his numerous younger nephews, "as I was saying, Mina, you and Mighty take us through what you built". Virtually glowing with pride, the mongoose led the group towards the sight and her now-favourite aunt had set up from them to view, blocking out the hovering spectre of what they were up against as the creation of the rival team had dwarfed their ideas from the very outset,

"Okay, well we thought we'd go for something…something very traditional and Christmassy, thanks to Danny and Uncle Derek for moving over and letting us nick some of their snow when we were running out", the two named armadillos took a sheepish bow before Mina took over once more, "because of them now, we've got enough to give you all this. Everyone, I present you with…", she gave a drawn-out pause before whipping herself to the side, standing next to where Mighty was waiting with arms folded, "…Snow White and her Seven Dwarfs".

The result to this announcement was a lot of general laughter and a few good spots of applause; now everyone was clear what they were looking at, eight separate figures rather than a single piece in its entirety, it did make a good deal of sense. The girls had worked hard and well on their pieces; all the dwarfs had obvious faces and a large, pointed hats with magnificent beards trailing all the way to the floor and Snow White herself was beautifully sculpted in what looked like a large dress, though unfortunately some areas of that had been knocked off and broken into with the time elapsed judging the rest of the entries. Overall it was quite a well-animated, well put together scene with some very nice detail work done on some of the dwarfs and the princess herself; as David remarked while polishing his spectacles, whoever had crafted their faces and hair certainly had a touch of the sculptor about them, though it was unfortunate that there hadn't been enough time to finish them all. _It's certainly a sterling effort, especially for Mina's age and the fact this is the first time she's ever really been here_; just before Nessie could verbalise such thoughts, however, someone else made an observation,

"Hang on a minute", Gavin took another second for a swift-head count, only continuing when he was certain he was right, "there's only six dwarfs there". Mighty gave a chuckle,

"Dopey fell over". Her uncle chortled in kind and shot a wink her way,

"Did he now, or did someone fall over him I wonder?"

"He tripped over his own feet, like someone else not a million miles from here is a master at", Mighty assured him, her smile widening a second later, "tell you what though, you stand under a tree and let me kick a bough-full down on your head and you'd make a fine stand-in". Gavin pursed his lips at her impudence before Nessie, fighting back giggles with the help of her gas canister, spoke to break the argument before it could get any impetus behind it,

"Hold it, no fighting now or we'll not get under a roof before dinner. So then, very good the pair of you; what about you Roddy, what have you and Big been up to?" Even before the two girls' grins from the praise of the eldest present had faded the new target of Nessie's attentions had stepped forwards, interlacing his fingers and pushing forwards, resulting in a noise like dried branches being trampled underfoot,

"Roddy!" He immediately stopped and looked around guiltily,

"Sorry mum", Lianne fixed him with a piercing eye before giving a nod; taking this as permission he carried on, "well ours is a bit different to everyone else's, in fact to see it right you've got to come around to this side", beckoning, Roddy began to lead the group to where they needed to be to get the full view of the masterpiece he and Big had carved and crafted together, "he's not a traditional snowman by any means, in fact, if you saw a real one of these you'd probably want to head for the hills as fast as your legs could carry you". As he walked along, Derek shouldered his way through the press of his kinfolk enough to come close to Mighty; as she looked across at him he darted his eyes up towards the monolith they were approaching with a slightly apprehensive air,

"Tell you what, fake it might be but I wouldn't say no to heading that way right now truth be told".

Mighty nodded her agreement though she said nothing; it wouldn't do to say anything that might be construed as praise for her rivals efforts. However deep inside her a twinge of worry was make her belly feel unsettled; aside from its imposing and obvious size, the snowman she was heading towards seemed to emit an aura of almost imperceptible wrongness, an eerie sensation that made her skin crawl. It might have been to do with the size, or with the pattern that had been carved all the way down the huge statue of snow, a continuing pattern of bands going inwards and outwards that blurred its outline, making the snowman as a whole indistinct and somehow more threatening. Or, as she drew closer, it was that it actually looked far more like a man, much more lifelike and in proportion, than anyone else's efforts; it did indeed have a head and a body, two separate legs and arms, though admittedly the arms were made from the same chunk of the snow that the torso was constructed from; the arms had simply been carved out of the huge snowball as a whole rather than being stuck on later separately. It just didn't look like an average snowman, it looked taller, bigger, much more ominous and overshadowing, a dark god of the snow-people tired of being mocked every year and coming back to claim revenge for its kin. _And the worst thing of all_; twinned with the worm of apprehension she was feeling getting closer to this thing was the snake of frustration coiling around her mind; _I get the feeling I've seen it somewhere before – I could swear this is something else, a replica of something else but what it is I can't remember_.

"Now there is one thing you all need to know about this, before you get ready to judge us for it", Roddy's voice dragged her attention back to the present, away from where the giant loomed up ahead of her, "I'll say this now, it's not finished yet…" He braced for what he knew was coming and, sure enough, it arrived,

"Hey, no fair, aunt Nessie", Mina made a plea to her elder's sense of fair play, "they shouldn't get a time extension or extra marks because they ran out of time, no-one else did". There was a fair amount of head-nodding and general murmurs of agreement, all the time coming to the feet of the massive snow behemoth where, some could now see, the other constructor of this idol was waiting for them. Eventually, when they all drew to a halt Nessie took it upon herself to remind Roddy of the rules,

"Sorry Roderick, you know what happens, you should do, having won Jess's title for a good number of years. When time's up you have to get judged on what you've done so far, you can't put any more snow down after Bekka bangs the gong". _I was expecting that_; Roddy kept his face blank as he raised a hand in supplication, though he let a bit of a smile peep though his lips as he turned to the targets of his attentions more fully; _though thanks, you just made life easier – you're going into the cold-seat Mina, and you deserve it!_;

"I know nana, but me and Big don't need more snow, we need someone else", he let his smile deepen, a lot more darkly this time around as he slowly brought up one arm and extended a finger, "we need her to finish this".

A ripple of consternation ran around the group this time, Kirsten stepping forwards to put a hand on her daughter's shoulder as Mina shrank back, almost afraid of Roddy's declaration,

"Me", she managed to squeak before clearing her throat and standing tall, gently easing off her mother's protective paw before standing up and deciding to look after herself, "what do you need me for?" Roddy seemed about to answer but, instead, his voice was drowned in that of his partners; Big's deep bass rumbled over his counterpart's voice like an avalanche,

"Just to add the last touch; don't worry though", he gave a genial smile as he approached from where he had been stood at the foot of the snowman, ready to lend a last-ditch support if anything went critically wrong at the last minute, "nothing bad will happen to you I promise; it's up to you though". For a second the mongoose looked like she'd bolt down the escape hatch Big had just offered her but from the very edge of her vision she saw Roddy's sudden smirk and something within her hardened; no way was she going to be brow-beaten by a shorty like him!

"Okay then", boldly striding forwards she marched up to where Big was standing and planted her feet directly in front of him, hands on hips and ready for anything, "what do I have to do?"

"Nothing", the cat stated before beckoning her forwards, "just follow me, right up here and, here we go; see that hole there, in his chest?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well just hold still a minute; don't worry, I won't drop you, just don't wriggle and..." the mongoose didn't struggle as Big's massive hands came down to gently lift her into the air and hold her at a height here the soles of her shoes were level with the bottom of his rib cage, "okay, curl up a little and, in we go". She gave a sudden shiver at the cold as ice encased her on five sides,

"It's like a freezer up here", she complained as the cat removed his hands and backed away a little, "h,hurry up for all our sakes!" Taking this as a cue, Roddy stepped forwards and, in his best showMobian's voice, told the entire audience what they needed to know,

"Everyone, I present you with the Wicker Snow-man!"

There was a rushed intake of breath as at his words everyone suddenly understood, especially those who had actually seen the film that had provided Big's inspiration for the concept in the first place; with Mina now in the sacrificial position within the fake wicker-mans' chest it looked very real and, now they all knew it wouldn't burn, a lot less dangerous that it had on the approach,

"I thought I'd seen something like that before; well done son", Gavin gave his nephew an impromptu round of applause, "very nicely done, you an all Big, looks a pearler that one". Mighty gave him a heart-broken look, knowing now that if she and Mina were going to win this competition she'd need to pull out all possible stops to trump the ace her boyfriend and her cousin had pulled from their sleeves,

"Gavin, I'm wounded". Unfortunately her workmate chose that moment to demonstrate her keen hearing,

"And I'm freezing my tail off; for goodness sake just get this over with, did we win or not?" Deciding that it was getting uncomfortably close to tea for her liking, Nessie swivelled her wheelchair around in the snow and announced to all present,

"I agree with young Mina up there; show of hands for whose you think is the better. Snow White…?" There was a generous smattering of hands went up and several nodded heads; all four members of each team kept every finger and toe crossed,

"…Or this wicker-man?"

XXX

As a forest of hands suddenly sprang into bloom Roddy bunched his fists and hissed in triumph; _no contest, we won! In your face aunt Mighty_; as he opened the eyes he'd screwed closed in delirium he scanned the crowd for the signs of his aunt only to have her movement stopped as a heavy weight settled on his head,

"Don't make a mistake now Rod", Big's voice drifted down to him, the cat speaking quietly in the lull as the result was made semi-official, everyone asking everyone else how they'd voted, "no-one likes a graceless winner; just accept it, move on and don't brag about it".

"But…"

"No buts", the cat's voice grew a bit firmer as he let the armadillo look up at him for a minute, "no need to labour the point; fact is I reckon we won, but that's not the point is it. The point was to have a bit of fun and we all did that didn't we? Well, didn't we?" The armadillo scratched an ear,

"I guess so".

"Right", Big explained, the hand raised as he moved onto the next logical point he had, "so we had fun, but if you keep crowing about it do you think Mina will want to do something like that next year – Mighty wouldn't mind too much probably but its better safe than sorry isn't it? Otherwise all they'll think is 'don't wanna run the risk of that loud-mouth getting another shot at me' – I'm right aren't I? I mean, no-one likes it when the champion mocks the guy who gave him a good run for his money do they, I don't at least?"

Roddy was silent for a few more seconds, seemingly totting the arguments for and against up in his head; for a minute the cat wasn't sure if he'd said enough or if he'd laboured the point too hard, but his attention was caught as something hard hit him on the back of the head, just behind his right ear,

"Hey, get me down", looking around he saw Mina shivering, still encased in the chest of the wicker-man he'd jointly built; _oops, nearly forgot_; well, he hadn't forgotten of course, he'd just been put off by other matters. With a snort he ran the palm of his hand over the top of Roddy's shell one last time before turning around, an apology on his lips that dies an instant later as something seized the end of his tail and tugged,

"No way Big guy, I'll handle this", having not expected this in a month of Sundays, the cat simply gaped open-mouthed as Roddy strode past him bold as brass, going almost to the feet of the snowman itself, spreading his arms and grinning up at the captive prisoner with a cheerful wink,

"Jump".

"What?!" Mina wasn't sure if she was supposed to laugh or look shocked at the announcement, the resultant ambivalent expression making everyone who's head her previous shriek had alerted hold in a chuckle, "are you crazy; I'm not jumping!"

"Why not?" Roddy looked genuinely perplexed, "I'll catch you".

"Yeah right, you'll jump out the way and I'll break my legs".

"I will not"; _you're not fooling me buster_; Mina had fallen for that trick once too often and was resolutely certain she wasn't going to do so again,

"You will, I've seen it before". Roddy threw up his arms in disgust,

"Mum, tell her I'm not like that".

"Roddy, unfortunately you are like that", Lianne's voice cut through the dispute and Roddy felt himself wounded as his mother seemed to come down definitely not on his side, "but I tell you now if you drop her I'll drop you, right off our room balcony, you got that?"

It wasn't a threat, it was a promise and everyone who heard it knew it, none more so than the armadillo it had been aimed at; with a slightly tautened grin he set his sights on Mina once more, perched precariously in her icy eyrie, and called up,

"See, would you argue with that? Come on, I'm hungry; we could just leave you up there all night you know?" The mongoose stuck her tongue out,

"You wouldn't", she shuffled her feet, tension thrumming the air around her like static; _I must be mad_; "o, okay, just, you better not miss". Roddy gave another nod and spread his arms wide; taking this as a sign, the mongoose crossed her fingers, took hold of the sides of the wicker-mans' chest, screwed up both her face and her courage and then launched herself forwards in a leap of faith.

_Oh no!_; even with his basic understanding of elementary physics Roddy came to a quick conclusion; Mina had pushed herself out far too far – at this rate she'd go sailing clean over his head! Frantically back-pedalling, he tried to take a rough guess of where she was going to land at the same time as brace himself for the impact; the silhouette of the mongoose framed with the setting winter sun almost seared into his mind, a second that felt like eternity as she came back to the earth under the effect of gravity. Everything was going in slow-motion for the armadillo as he sought desperately to recover his position and make sure both that his mother wouldn't think that he had made a mistake intentionally but also, more importantly, that no-one else would get hurt in winter because he'd screwed up. Mina suddenly swelled in his vision, still moving so slowly he could see virtually every detail, freeze in his mind each lock of her violet hair as it streamed around her, every line of worry as it creased her face; _gotta get rid of them lines_; he was as close as he was ever going to get, threw his arms wide ready for the last catch; _here goes nothing!_

There was a soft, seemingly slowly mounting impact on his front for the very briefest of seconds before with a thump, all of Mina's bodyweight hit him at once; admittedly compared to most of her new contemporaries that weight was very slight indeed but, backed up by the height from which she had made her leap and Roddy's less than ideal receiving position, it amplified the burden placed on the young armadillo considerably. With a sudden wheeze he was forced back a step, than another one in rapid succession, hoping against hope that he wouldn't hit a patch of ice as that would simply be the end of them both. Thankfully though, fortune smiled on them and he managed to lose the necessary momentum enough to bring his strength into play, killing the flying mongoose's suicidal plummet and turning it instead into a gentle halt. _Okay, okay crisis over_; he dared breathe again only when he was sure they'd stopped, in the same movement it looked around and opened his eyes only to go red as he realised his head was buried in the stomach of the other Mobian's coat. Hastily dropping his arms, he felt rather than saw Mina drop back to the floor and froze as she huddled against him out of shock; only a second later did she dare look around and see she was safely back on terra firma and, as such, jump back from where Roddy had cushioned her fall.

"Wow, not doing that again", she shivered, still not exactly sure she'd done what she'd just done and lived to tell the tale, "thanks for the catch". When there was no reply she looked across to see Roddy staring, not something she enjoyed by any stretch of the imagination. Crossing her arms, she made certain to make her displeasure clear,

"Hey I said…" Only then she realised he wasn't staring at her, he was staring at a point over her shoulder; even as she turned to join his gaze, unease already gnawing at her willpower; a vice-like grip seized around her slim wrist and she was jerked almost off her feet, Roddy leading the way with his voice bellowing in her ear,

"Run!"

XXX

All present scattered or took cover as they could as it became obvious that something about the way Mina had jumped from the creation of her opposing team had upset something important and fundamental within the replica wicker-mans' snowy structure. Slowly it began to quiver and topple, by the time she'd actually touched down it was obvious to all present what was about to happen and everyone ran for it pell-mell as, with a loud, dull crumping noise, the top half of the structure disintegrated in its entirety. Both the arms were first to go, first the right one then the left falling onto the snow that had birthed the massive stature before the hole in the chest cavity was filled in completely, the weight of the head suddenly too much for the chest to carry. Like a miniature landslide the top half slid forwards, seeking something to bury as though desperate for the victim it had been cheated of; luckily though, warned by Roddy's shout and half-dragged into cover by him, even Mina was out of the impact zone well before the thing finally came down, fallen to the ground with a rumbling splat. All present shook heads and stood back up, one or two stretching off as though trying to kid on there had been nothing to worry about; even Roddy, once he'd dusted himself down and given Mina her hand back, fixed the mongoose with a shrug and affable smile,

"Well", he said chirpily, "suppose it would have made a change from setting it on fire". His smile lasted until Mina's face darkened, then promptly turned upside-down as she stooped, scrabbling around for some scrap snow. All thoughts of valour and pride gone, Roddy ran for his life towards the welcoming entrance to the hotel where snowballs were forbidden inside, ignoring the barrage both verbal and physical Mina sent rocketing his way. After a second of genial laughter at the pairs antics, everyone else took the as a cue to head inside towards a nice long meal, leaving behind only a pair of stout, compressed legs to show what once had been present in the grounds of the Highland Steppes, facing the setting sun.

A/N: Just out of interest, if anyone ever wants to see the film of the Wicker Man, watch the original; the new version with Nicolas Cage in it's just rubbish (nothing against Cage, just the setting and everything else is all wrong). Still, glad to have got this chapter written at last; I can't say when the next one will be ready but I promise I'll be as quick as I can!


	12. Chapter 12 Playing for Fun

Chapter 12 – Playing for Fun…

A/N: It's been a while but hopefully it'll be worth it. I seem to be working all the hours God sends for precious little reward, ho-hum, such is life. However, readers make the whole thing worth it:

Ri2 – I agree; Stefan is far from the easiest guy in the world to get on with – good, just as I intended him to be. Hope you enjoy the rather saucy humour of this latest chapter.

Grateful to be out of the cold at last Big simply let himself fall backwards into the closest seat, flexing his fingers this way and that within his ice-coated gloves and wincing as he felt life finally beginning to trickle back into them. _Just hope they don't swell_; he rubbed his hands together ruefully, knowing what could occasionally happen to him if he didn't get his hands warm again soon – it was a pretty rare event, but sometimes one or two of his huge fingers would swell up from the cold, prickling painfully and not allowing him to put his gloves on properly come the morning; _think I was just in time though, and anyway, what's a smidgen of pain now after all the fun we just had?_ Sitting back and much more at peace with the world, the cat merely stretched off a little, just about keeping a yawn at bay before deciding to focus on a topic of conversation to while away the time before the evening meal was served,

"Hey Might", he kept his voice low, seeing out the corner of his eye that Stefan hadn't budged from where he'd been all day as far as the cat knew; the grey-shell was sat at the end of one of the main tables and ignorant to the conversations all round him, the cards on the table before him laid out and disturbed only as he weighed each move up before turning them over, occasionally shuffling the deck and dealing himself another game of solitaire, never offering anyone else the chance to join in with him. His actions were never hurried, every one of them calculated and precise, the entire process alien and out of place to the chaos surrounding him as the rest of his family fell over each other to recount the stories of the day's battle blow by frigid blow. _Wait, carry on, she's waiting_; just in the nick of time Big managed to tear his eyes away from where his girlfriend's father kept his own council, heart and mind both colder than the weather outside; _deal with him, if you have to, later. With a bit of luck it won't come to that_; even as the thought crossed his mind his mood darkened a little – better than anyone he knew how his track record for luck in that regard read,

"Yeah? Were you saying something?"

"Oh, sorry", Big apologised as the armadillo at his side looked up, "lost in thought; just wanted to check though – no hard feelings?" As Mighty looked up quizzically he explained himself, "I meant, with the duel of the Frostys out there?" For a second Mighty looked nonplussed, then she spluttered with mirth, shaking her head and patting his arm consolingly,

"What, you and Roddy coming out on top? Nah, even I'd have to say you just about edged that one on the day, that thing you pair put up together really was a work of art, even if it was only for a few minutes". Big shrugged,

"Minutes, hours, don't think it matters; it did what we needed it to do". Mighty nodded, her eyes scanning the room before something arrested her gaze like a magnet picked up iron filings; _no way…okay, maybe yes way – huh, about the best anyone could have hoped for really_; with a chuckle she knocked the cat's arm,

"Actually it might have done a bit more than we needed it to", Big glanced down, she nodded towards the sight she'd seen, speaking only as the cat's eyebrows disappeared into his fringe with surprise, "overall I'd say, without a hint of irony I might add, it was a really worthwhile sacrifice".

Big didn't answer for a second and Mighty hadn't expected him to; instead she smiled with him as, slowly, what he was seeing dawned on him and a slow grin seeped over his lips. Across the room, several rows down and, rather unusually, away from both their families on what he supposed counted as neutral ground for the pair of them, Roddy and Mina appeared to be waiting for their meal together, chatting amiably in the din with all past animosity swept under the bridge like melt-water. The cat smiled for a second before turning back to where Mighty was just accepting both their starters off one of the waiters drafted in from the local villages, necessary at this time of year to cope with the extra strain so many guests heaped on the mainframe of the Highland Steppes,

"Seeing that, so would I"; _so would I – come on_; he'd left his sentence hanging and Mighty waited for him to finish it but, for some reason Big stayed silent for a minute, slightly unfocussed as she waited for a few seconds more before losing her patience and prompting,

"Yes?"

"Huh?" Startled out of his repose the cat looked down at her in shock for a heartbeat or two before apparently recollecting himself, "oh, I'm so sorry, I was just thinking…"

"First time for everything I suppose; it's usually remembering you're good at"; _damn that was good_; where that last half of the sentence had come from she had no idea but the most important thing was that it had worked like a dream – cut off from any possible reproach Big was left gaping like one of the fish he so casually dredged up from the bottom of his swampland home. Mighty basked in the sheer joy of catching someone out just this once before, finally pulling himself back together, the cat managed to speak once more, a little gruffness in his tone now as he nodded, a grudging compliment that she had tripped him so neatly,

"Well, quite, but actually I was just wondering…I know this might sound a little, in fact it'll probably sound a lot presumptuous, but I guess I'd best not beat about the bush any longer"; _what's on your mind then?_; Mighty tried to see where he was going with this as it wasn't like Big to mince his words in any way – before she could query though, he made the waters a little less murky, "it's about Mina, and, well, what would happen if, I mean she's adopted now and all…" Mighty nodded, sneaking a second peek at where the mongoose now had her attentions captivated by a melon boat starter, Roddy by the side of her likewise occupied with a prawn cocktail,

"You better believe she is; what", she gave a spur-of-the-moment guess, "you're wondering if it's not official until her name's on the dishcloth at the back of the hallway there?"

"Umm, no, not quite", the cat wheedled, wondering quite how he was going to put the query burning in the back of his mind into words; _oh well, cross your fingers and hope to God_; he had nothing to lose really so went for it, "I was just wondering about the law, I mean, if Mina wanted to marry someone, someone in her new family I mean, could she…later on in life like, I'm not suggesting a ceremony here and now", Mighty's raised eyebrows and look of shock almost made him laugh but he managed to retain just about enough coherency to finish his question, "would she be able to? Can an adopted child marry into the family later on, I mean does the law allow that sort of marriage or would it count as…illegal?" He couldn't quite bring himself to use the correct terminology for inter-family relationships but even so he was certain Mighty must have realised what he was on about; with a look of blank shock the armadillo sat back in her seat, one hand coming up to her cheeks as she tried to make the implications of Big's proposed scenario sink through the seized-up gears of her mind.

XXX

_Mina, could she even…why would she ever want one of us? And why are you_; only the shock draining her face of blood spared her cheeks ignition as she saw Big waiting for her patiently, not demanding an answer or pressing her in any way, merely waiting for her to take in what he'd said and deliver her point of view in her own time; _talking about marriage? Ah, put me on the spot why don't you – okay, try to answer the question…honest answer, no idea but I think I know someone who might know. Right, go with that for now and deal with anything else, later_;

"Muh, not got a clue I'm afraid", jolted back online by a spontaneous mental yank, Mighty came back to answer Big just before he had to resort to giving her a gentle nudge in the right direction, "not really something that comes up all that often upstairs if you know where I'm coming from", a nod told her that he did implicitly, "but I'll bet that if anyone did know it'd be that Mobian over there; I'll ask him when I get a spare minute. Why, anyway?" Big shrugged,

"Dunno really, just something that came to me out the blue", he gave a somewhat apologetic grin, abashed that his curiosity had unsettled her so much, "haven't read up on anything to do with law for years now, and anyway the goalposts shift so often I'd bet anything I could remember would be out of date by now. I just remembered reading this story in one of the papers Mr Trenton had; it was about this couple, got together, wed and with a few children of their own, then realised they were actually brother and sister", Mighty gagged, grossed out by the implications of this mistake,

"Eww, that's awful; how did it happen? That's just not right; surely someone should have said something?"

"No, they were both adoptees; born from the same mother, not sure if the dad was the same though"; _funny how the papers never pay that much attention to the dad's input on things at times like this_; the thought made his chuckle with one breath and sigh in the next, equally amused and weary of the newspaper's fascinations with all the unfortunate stories present in the world – why they never focussed on the positive side of things he never knew, "and put up for adoption separately. They met each other and got together when they were grown up; it was a complete fluke and accident and now no-one's quite sure where they stand; technically I suppose it'd count as an consanguineous relationship, but neither of them knew, or even could have known about it, their adoption records were kept secret due to the law. The papers called it a less than a one-in-a-billion chance; I reckon they were being generous to call those odds even".

"Me too; urgh, what an awful thing to find out so suddenly", the armadillo grimaced for a minute before recalling the original point to the cat's line of thought, "hang on, what's this got to do with Mina? You don't…"

"You're quite right I don't", the cat assured her genially before giving a roll of his massive shoulders, "I was just wondering if there was any law that'd stop her falling head-over-heels for someone in her new family; she's not a blood-relation to any of you after all, and just as well for her I say".

"Too right she's not, she's…hey", at that point Mighty's brain caught up to the last point the cat had made and she turned on him with a ferocious scowl, "if we're all that bad how come you ended up over here with me; nothing was forcing you over the water". Big snorted with dismissive mirth,

"Nothing if you don't count the shotgun dad had pointed at me under the table. He'd have done it as well", the cat pressed on as his girlfriend was reduced to helpless sniggers, the image of Bill trying to heft a gun as long as his arm one-handed under the family table with his one and only son as target numero uno breaking her funny bone in half completely, only just enough of her left to realise Big was still speaking, "he thinks the world of you, so does mum as well and not just because you helped with the heavy lifting when she'd put her back out of joint so far". The armadillo just about managed to stop her giggles before taking in a deep breath, almost inhaling the remainder of her cock-a-leekie soup as she sat up properly again in her seat,

"Aww, tell them from me I'm flattered"; _and grateful – I knew Bill and I were seeing eye to eye but I wasn't so sure about T_; "anyway, I'm sure he wouldn't have pulled the trigger – if nothing else Tia would have hidden the cartridges".

"Who are you kidding – she'd have done it herself if she could have trusted that dodgy nerve of hers". Mighty made a coy face before the mood was shattered for the minute by a high-pitched cackle; the attention of both Mobians, and indeed pretty much everyone else present and enjoying their meal, was taken up by the sudden sight of Peggy lurching herself half-upright, resting her weight on the top of her table and forcing the armadillos to her right to duck suddenly as her walking stick swung over their ears to come to a quavering halt pointing at the main entrance to the Highland Steppe's feasting hall.

"Well-well, look what the wind blew in", Mighty craned her neck to try and see past the form of her boyfriend but was cheated in this regard as Big's bulk blocked her line of sight, "and an ill-wind indeed to bring your sorry tail back here this early".

For a second there was no answer and Mighty was seriously considering standing up and walking around Big to check who her cantankerous aunt was referring to before, with a snort, Peg had her answer and she knew who had just reappeared in the line of fire,

"What am I supposed to do then, nothing's biting out there", Reuben called back to his wife, the top half of his fishing rod pointed at her in kind as though ready to take her walking stick on in a joust any day of the week, "just order me my usual dinner and I'll be out of your hair for the rest of night, grey as that hair might be nowadays". Peg pursed her lips, the slight rumbles of laughter not helping her temper at all before she gave a dismissive glare,

"Fine, just get gone, and have a shower before you come back down here", there was a muted thud and looking over Big's head Mighty saw the edge of the main door come to a halt as the armadillo who had been holding it open removed himself from his wife's wrath, "just because you hunt fish doesn't mean I should have to put up with you stinking like one of them". _The sweet bliss of inharmonious matrimony_; seeing her aged aunt slowly retake her place, muttering under her breath things to do with her husband that were probably best not overheard, Mighty swiftly stifled her fledgling smile; _nice to know some things never change_.

"Poor Reuben, no wonder he spends so long up at the loch if that's what he comes back to every night", Big mused at the side of her as she watched Peg reholster her walking stick at the side of her, "that's a bit strange really, he doesn't look like the type to give up even if the fish aren't being all that co-operative and, there's a thought", the cat glanced at her, obviously struck by an idea, "even if he wanted to call it an early night why didn't he just go into the Green Otter and spend an hour or two there?"

_Thought you might ask that_; she knew that something like this was probably coming as despite all his outward appearances Big was an awful lot sharper than most people gave him credit for – in that respect he had a lot in common with Vector, as more than once his combination of street-smarts and plain intuition had rescued another member of the Chaotix, often herself, or one of the guardians from a particular jam or other. To that end she merely let her smile spread wider and patted his arm gently, soothing his suspicions and reassuring him that Reuben's early arrival on this particular night of all nights was the natural way of things this time of year,

"Don't panic, you'll see why after we've all eaten and settled down for the night; honest", not that she didn't trust the cat at all but even so Mighty thought that a little extra guarantee or two wouldn't go amiss at this time, "nothing's going wrong or anything but trust me, no-one, and I do mean that, no-one in our family misses out on the ceremony tonight".

XXX

What the ceremony was Big didn't enquire; he knew Mighty well enough by now to realise when she thought she'd said enough on a particular topic and this was easily one of those times. Instead he concentrated on enjoying the meal in front of him, passing his finished plate of smoked salmon to the nearest waiter with a thanks and a compliment when he had consumed all the meat of his starter, then doing the same with his main course when he had polished off all the salad and the sweet red meat it had been surrounding, taking care that none of the remaining steak-juice dribbled onto the spotless white uniform of the serving girl. _Umm, good tender beef that was_; he licked his whiskers without even thinking about it, the gesture so natural to his species as a whole that he didn't even blink as the thickened muscle whipped around his lips and swiped them clear of any crumbs more efficiently than any napkin that had ever been created.

In this case his natural self-grooming wasn't just a fastidiousness; as with most Mobian predators when they actually ate meat of nearly any varieties, Big preferred his meat very lightly cooked – the steak he'd just been treated to at the Highland Steppes had been prepared blue, just as nature had intended a predator to tuck into it. And, surrounded as he was by a family of borderline herbivores for the most part, the cat was under no illusion that walking around with bloodied lips really wasn't going to portray the right sort of image to them all – to that end he kept his eating discreet and cleared up after himself well, Mighty at the side of him too engrossed in her own meal to comment much on his; _not that she would anyway really. After all, I can't help being what I am any more than she can help being what she is and, compared to having that ruddy awful shell clamped across my back every day of my life I'd say a couple of unsavoury eating habits is pretty small change_; the cat turned his self-generated theory over in his mind as he waited for everyone else nearby to finish, sneaking a glance at where Mighty was already examining the dessert menu and eventually nodding to himself – yes, overall he considered himself to have gotten off lightly in the grand scheme of things as far as species was concerned.

"Oh sorry", he almost jumped as though doused with a bucketful of cold water, only stilling his thundering heart as the armadillo pro-offered the menu she'd recently been perusing to him once more, "you wanted a look?"

"Umm, er, yeah, sorry, bit preoccupied", the cat managed to gabble before getting a grip on himself again, "wondering what's on offer this evening – will it be as good as yesterday?" Mighty laughed and casually flipped the list of treats towards him, where he caught it effortlessly single-pawed,

"You believe it, it'll be great; just stick around afterwards, don't go running off like normal", she warned half-teasingly, "bit of an announcement afterwards, you won't want to miss that".

"Says who?" His response was in a similar vein to her statement and she smiled slyly at it, the wordplay smooth and flowing between the pair of them; _now how to force the tide in my favour?_;

"Says me, and surely, as the one who invited you here in the first place, that aught to be enough?"

"It aught", the cat grinned only more widely and Mighty stiffened – she knew that look, he must have found a loophole, "but, you never know, playing hard to get almost got me a better reward earlier; now dad's not here prodding me in the back with his twelve-bore, it might do so again. What do you say to that my dear Michelle?"

_Damn it, damn it, damn it_; she could just picture his expression so well it was almost as if it were there, actually, physically _there _on his face, if only she could come up with the words that would make her almost-solid illusion a reality. Her expression didn't change beyond her closing her eyes and gritting her teeth, concentrating so hard on trying to mould an answer that would deliver all she desired in Big's face-fault she could hear the blood thundering in her ears, though thankfully this time it wasn;t so burningly obvious across the rest of her face. In a weird kind of slow motion she saw the merest sliver of white tooth appear, the cat smirking as he knew he had her on the ropes; _but he hasn't, he hasn't – just give me half a second longer…a second if that_; but the second came and went too quickly and still her mind was a helpless blank – there was simply no inspiration that was going to net her the reaction she so desperately wanted to inflict upon the smug feline sat next to her. In a mere instant he was going to say something else, offer her the hand of truce that, bereft of other options, she would have no choice but to shake even if it was a hand of nettles and thorns for her once-more mortified self-pride,

"Hello thur", the voice broke in on the contest of wills so suddenly that at first she didn't register it, it was only at the second time of asking combined with Big shifting his attentions from where she sat still furiously trying to come up with a response to his innuendo that alerted her to the fact that someone else was trying to engage her attention,

"Hello thur", the third brave stab at questioning had just lanced at her before she managed to come about enough in her seat and face the waitress facing her, a small, nervous smile on her freckled face as she fished a small nub of pencil from the front of her pinny, "have ye decided in'yer sweet, or shall ah give ye a few secs mur?"

"No, no", luckily Big answered first and therefore gave her enough time to recall dimly the menu she'd held in her hand not a moment ago, a moment that seemed a lifetime away now, "I would like a slice of cheesecake please, no cream though, just with the raspberry topping; that'll do nicely". The cat's whiskers quivered as he gave the girl his own smile; she couldn't hold his eyes in shyness, turning instead to where Mighty had just about brokered a truce between the two halves of her mind,

"Aye man, a cheesecake an' fur you ma'am?"

"The same, but lots of cream for me", the armadillo responded licking her lips; of all the eighteen or so times she could remember being within the Highland Steppes, there wasn;t a single visit that hadn't been accompanied by a serious helping of the home-made cream that adorned every sweet the hostel presented to its guests. Made from a traditional highland recipe it was simply not bettered and, giving half a chance, not ignored either, "the diet's on hold while I'm here".

"Guid, guid", the waitress replied absently, concentrating on scribbling down the order and then dropping both notepad and pencil into the pouch of her apron before smiling at them once more, "wha's the point o'comin' awa' if ye're no' to treat yersel'? I'll ha' 'em up for ye soon a'the rest are finished wi'the main course".

"No hurry", Big assured her, watching for a second as she scurried away, evidently intent upon jotting down some more orders at the same time as keeping a watchful eye open for empty plates left at the edges of the tablecloths; only when he was sure she was out of earshot did the cat look across once more, the look of a hunter back in his eyes as, emboldened by his earlier assault, he sought to start again where he'd left off not half a minute ago,

"So my dear armadillo, any answer from you yet; what's to stop me playing hard to get? You know pudding always makes me sleepy; I could just abut drag myself upstairs and have a nice long cat-nap after a getting such a full meal now".

"No Big, you won't"; _forget subtlety then_; regrettably she had to abandon her plans of landing such a glorious put-down on the cat this time – this was something she couldn't afford him to miss even if she knew, or at least was ninety-nine percent certain, he'd stay for it regardless of how tired he was feeling; _we go with option two_; "if I have to take a mallet and nail your palms to the table and tail to the floor, you'll be staying right where you are after you've finished eating, are we clear?"

He was tempted, that much she could see; he really did want to see how far she'd be willing to push that last little statement of hers and she braced herself, idly wondering if Wull did keep that old duffel bag of tenting supplies any more and, more importantly, anywhere close at hand – if nothing else, the tent pegs there would certainly make him feel a little uneasy when coupled with the look of conviction on her face. However, she quickly realised with relief, there'd be no need for such unpleasantness; an occasional tease he might have been but, overall, Big had never been one to stretch a joke out to its limits of borderline intolerance before finally snapping it back in her face; that had always been Charmy's, and to a lesser extent Sonic's, specialist skill. With a low chuckle he shook his head; at the contact on her elbow Mighty relaxed a little in her own mind even if she never let such a show of relief onto her face – as far as that battlefield was concerned, he had a lot more to do before he could force a beachhead there.

"I'm not going anywhere, you know that".

"Know yes, be certain of no; I know what you cats are like, always changing your minds at the worst time of all", the armadillo's eye narrowed in sly mirth as she regarded Big from the corner of her closest one to him, "'we'll have a crisped hake – no, better make that a fish stew – no, scratch that, the hake'll do after all, unless the…" Big cleared his throat irritably, sorely tempted to ping the armadillo's ear for the reminder of one of his very few dithering moments,

"Shut up, I had to make sure I was getting the best out of my larder; anything that I couldn't keep over winter for three or four weeks I either had to let go or chuck out – not easy to make a call like that. Put it like this, if I don't get a good couple of days fishing right after I get back to Mystic Ruins you'll be looking at a cat of skin-and-bone next time you see me". Mighty chortled, trying to look surprised,

"Now that would be a turn-up for the books; the last time you were skin and bone you were still inside your poor old mum; since then you've been covered in fluff".

"Which is better than being covered in ruddy hardened plastic", Big retorted, tapping the nearest edge of his girlfriends' shell as he said it to give a hollow knocking sound, "anyway, I wouldn't be going upstairs right now, not unless you were coming with me that is".

Only the fact that she'd only just brushed her glass with the merest tips of her fingers prevented Mighty from doing a Tails and staining the crisp white tablecloth irredeemably with the red wine she was partial to when she dined formally. Wet, sticky blood pounded in her ears, the tempo a stark contrast to the echoing, ghostly swirl being piped directly into her mind from her eardrums as Big's offer repeated itself over and over, a monotone dirge that made her flush hot and cold at the same time; _he did not just…now, of all the times, when we sure as hellfire can't…_;

"Don't worry", his voice nearly made her swoon; it was a low, almost sultry whisper that percolated its way into her ear, "I didn't mean anything like that".

"What?" Her voice seemed to be coming from a great distance away; with a great deal of effort she focussed and tried to drag herself back in time, back into the present – it was a hard fight, one her imagination refused to lose easily, even to the point that when she finally managed to reconnect herself to the present it was with a sudden jolt of profound dislocation and a sense of vertigo in the pit of her stomach, "Big…what did you just say?"

"Relax, just look", she turned up at him as he sat back a little in his seat; his eyes shifted towards something, just for the briefest second as his eyebrows rose; a signal anyone else would have missed was outlined to her in bold and she followed his gaze just as he had show it to her. A single look, nothing more, was all she gave the target of his indication; an almost imperceptible glance told her everything she needed to know, and explained a great deal more than simply that.

"See what I mean", Big settled back, his tone almost back to normal as he settled back in his seat, posture relaxed as so not to alert the armadillo who'd been watching him since the second he'd entered the hall to anything amiss that had passed between himself and his girlfriend, "he's been like a hawk since the second we got in; I'm almost tempted to try something…audacious, just to see if he'd cheer up if he thought he was right about us all along".

_Cheer up – you've got to be joking_; the sight of her father allowed Mighty to focus on the cat's earlier comments and, more importantly, fathom the reason behind such words with minimal effort; though he appeared to be as relaxed as he could ever claim to be, there was no denying the tension that flashed, just for split-seconds at a time, across the jaw and shoulders of Stefan as he sat to dine with his wife. Seeing the picture she'd frozen in her mind, the armadillo knew that since the debacle he'd been exposed to this morning her father's mind was made up about Big; as far as he was concerned the cat was a bad influence on his daughter and therefore to be either ignored or, should the opportunity present itself, brushed off completely. Not that he'd ever say anything out loud, that just wasn't Stefan's style; as Mighty had discovered with the aid of a couple of unlucky former suitors, anyone who fell below her father's standards was met with a wall of deafening silence that allowed no contact – it wasn't so much of a problem now she'd flown the nest but, when she'd been courting for the first time and staying under her parent's roof, more than one or two boyfriends had been driven off by the impassive, impenetrable figure that had stared them out from across the dinner table, chased away by someone who they all described more-or-less politely as being 'really weird'. _And of course_; she flicked her eyes to her father one more time, dropping her vision of the grey-shell just before he cast a glance likewise in her direction, just avoiding his suspicions that she and her partner were onto his unwarranted scrutiny; _as the only people in the world that meet his standards are himself and maybe mum on a good day, he pretty much tried to hustle all of them out the door – it was a brave one who stayed over for more than a couple of meals that was for sure_.

"Believe me it wouldn't", Mighty said after a minute, a slightly doleful note in her tone as she shook her head before returning her attention to where Big was sat still, a contrite frown on his features, "he's been suspicious before, in fact I reckon that ruddy trick you pulled last night was the straw that broke the camel's back in that regard", the cat tried to look even further abashed but was failed spectacularly by the grin that bloomed over his face, even Mighty's façade cracking a second later and forcing her to hold in a chuckle or two, "I mean why else would he have been prowling around outside your door first thing this morning – I'd bet my bottom crest, uh, pound as it is here in Scotland", she corrected herself, recalling the local unit of currency and reminding herself she wasn't on Angel Island any more simultaneously, "he was outside mine just before that".

_You know, that never even crossed my mind_; in all honesty Big was taken slightly aback by her casual deduction and logistical dissection of her father's motives and methodology – up until that point Big had simply assumed that Stefan catching them as he had at the start of the day had been no more than a bad twist of fate on their part; _but the more you look at it, the more it makes sense. Right, boy are you not making my job easy_; the cat sent a half-reproachful, half-basilisk glare Stefan's way for a second; _not only are you a control freak and a snob, you've got a paranoid streak a mile wide – okay, this is going to be a really interesting week and a half or so we've got left up here_. Sighing quietly, he turned to Mighty and shrugged again,

"That bet you mentioned", she nodded, understanding saturating her entire outlook as the cat finished gravely before giving his last words an extra shake of pepper to whet the appetite of her misbehaving side, "I wouldn't be one to take you up on it. Although, beings he seems certain something's going on", Mighty had to chase away a smile, however fleeting, from her lips before her boyfriend finished, "why don't we really stick the knife in, and don't look at me like that, it was your idea after all".

"Was not", the armadillo replied affronted,

"Was", Big retorted, effortlessly peeling off the conversation from his memory banks, "you were the one who said you could take his words as permission so don't try and con me into that one you". _Damn, I did as well_; her faulty memory bank jolted back into the proper configuration by his own Mighty had to acknowledge that he was right on that count – those had been almost her exact words.

"Okay, maybe, but just like you I didn't mean anything by it", she said with a devilish grin, "I was just getting right under his shell".

"And a good job you were doing, going by the look on his face; I don't think he could've coped with you and Derek together". Mighty shook her head, a couple of other times she and her favourite cousin had been thick as thieves in an effort to drive her father to distraction boiling up in the back of her mind and threatening to spill over, make her chuckle at the outrageousness of some of them; with a hard mental push she shoved the lid back down on that particular cauldron and faced the cat once more, purely business now as she explained why, this time, she and he had to be the ones to toe the line,

"Too right he couldn't, but anyway, this time not going to happen, and not because of him I can tell you. It's for mum's sake"; _thought that was coming_; Big nodded but stayed quiet as the armadillo finished what she needed to say, "if I misbehave I just know she'll get the receiving end of his temper; oh he won't lay a finger on her, wouldn't dare to, but it's not fair to let her get a cold shoulder just because I fancied a bit of fun at his expense". Big nodded slowly in agreement, though there was more than a hint of danger about him as he tried to take in her reassurance about Stefan's conduct towards the wife any Mobian would have been proud and humbled to call their own,

"Good", his voice was a monotone growl; it took him a real effort to lighten his tone, "if I thought for a second he'd touch Emily I'd rip his arms off".

"No you wouldn't, I'd have already done it", Mighty told him, her tone just as fierce as she recalled the time, not so long ago, when she had literally carried this threat out to someone who'd come closer than anyone else ever had to besting her completely physically; once more she remembered, just before the white haze of agony that had forced her into unconsciousness, Metal Sonic's form tossed into the flaming sunset sky minus the robotic limb she'd torn from its moorings, the android shredded like a rag doll before her awesome strength and Big's near-mindless savagery, the one time she'd ever seen the potentially lethal side of the cat she now considered her partner and equal. Seeing her lost in thought for a moment Big didn't intrude; instead he let his eyes rove the crowd for a minute, picking of armadillos he knew for sport until he spotted the freckled waitress who'd seen to them earlier; with a buffet of his arm he alerted Mighty, explaining to her as she glanced up at him, resonant anger from her memory still in her face for a moment before his words reminded her she was out of danger now, safe amongst friends and family both,

"Well, pleasant a thought as that might be, forget it and let's get stuck into this", he inclined his head, she followed and licked her lips a second later, snatching up the spoon at the head of her place mat as her dessert approached,

"Aye, let's; just don't you go walkabouts afterwards and all will be well, got that?"

"All right, I'm not going anywhere", Big assured her finally, catching her stern gaze after a second of umming and ahhing, "I would say keep your hair on but that doesn't really affect you does it?"

"No, but, too many more lame jokes like that mate and it won't be affecting you much earlier when I give Sam that cat-skin blanket he's always wanted – I'm no expert but I'm sure I could get enough out of you to keep Jess nice and warm until she's as old as Nana Ness". The cat scowled, Mighty flinching as he rapped the back of her shell with his spoon; she stuck her tongue out for a second before the waitress reached them both and, after a brief apology about taking so long that both Mobians waved away, neither spoke for a good few moments afterwards, relishing in the sweet, creamy taste of the desserts before them.

XXX

As good as his word, the cat didn't move even when both he and Mighty were finished; the only time he stirred from his seat was to wash his hands after a little of the cheesecake he'd tucked into had splashed into his fur and he left with a swiftly-whispered promise to be back as soon as he'd finished. _Phew, don't think I missed anything_; as he retook his seat he glanced around the room completely, there were still one or two Mobians still eating dotted around the hallway, though curiously there seemed to be a bit of a bustle in the doorways leading down to the kitchens, a semi-riot that ended with what looked like the entirety of the kitchen staff crowded onto the head of those stairs, each trying to take up as little room as possible and shy at being so exposed; only the figure of Wull and Bekka both behind their junior members of staff were keeping them from bolting back to the safe havens of downstairs in the kitchens. Even as the question formed in his head, the corner of his eye showed Big that more movement was taking place, though this was of a much les hurried and chaotic nature than the exodus from the underhalls of the Highland Steppes had been. Both thin arms planted on the table before her, Nessie paused for a moment before her face twisted in exertion and she heaved herself upright, one of the armadillos by the side of her helping her lever herself from the enfolding clutches of her wheelchair, letting her stand before her family once more.

The action took roughly ten seconds, ten of the longest seconds Big could ever remember living through as the most elderly Mobian present fought with everything she had to stand tall before the gaze of her entire dynasty, their collective will behind her as she came slowly, so agonisingly slowly to her feet. She came forwards slowly, the weight of her shell almost making her collapse onto the tabletop itself as she overbalanced slightly, but she was able to correct herself just and take a breath from her oxygen mask half a minute later, the precious gas energising her for what she had to say next. The hall sat in total silence, even those too young to truly understand what was happening stilled into silence by the actions of the adults next to or holding them; into this noiseless vacuum Nessie's voice, weak despite the fortifying oxygen she'd recently partaken of, echoed around the ears of all for long minutes,

"So then, here once more, back in the bosom of our homeland", the venerable armadillo paused to let those words sink in, then continued undaunted, "and not alone this time, new additions we've brought with us by birth", the wrinkled face tracked across and Big, along with several others present, held in a chuckle as Paula went red again, her daughter in her arms unconcerned with what was being said about her, "or by other, no less important means". Nessie's face moved again but the Mobian she pointed out seemed oblivious, carrying on her whispered conversation; it was only when Roddy gave her a none-too-gentle shove that Mina got around to realising she was suddenly the centre of attention and put Nessie's words to the forefront of her mind,

"Oh", the mongoose exclaimed, eyes wide as it finally sank in, "you meant me?"

Later on Big would be unable to mention what came next without a trace of smugness in his voice; despite the wicked smile that ripped across his face he was able, unlike the armadillo by the side of him who'd gone off on one like a lit firecracker, to stomach Mina's statement of the obvious without self-destructing into hopeless giggles. Good-natured chuckling ensured along with one or two ironic rounds of applause as Mina deflated in her seat, only her cherry-red forehead visible over the top of the table as she ducked lover and lower, out of range of everyone. Especially Roddy; the armadillo was so far gone he had his head buried in his arms and shoulders heaving as he banged the top of the table with his fist, luckily not hard enough to do much more than send ripples through the undrunk beverages still present on it.

"Yes Mina, we meant you", with heavy irony present on her words Nessie made the point undeniably clear, the laughter in the background petering out as she did so and letting her speak unopposed again a second later, "but no jesting now; we're together as a family now and, as such, it's time to fix these new members in their proper place. Before even that though, we have a debt of gratitude to pay".

As Nessie reached for a her glass so did everyone else, Big quickly darting his hand forwards and hefting his small measure and quietly relieved when he realised there was a sips-worth left at the bottom of the glass. _Good – last time in the world I'd have wanted to ask for a top-up_; letting out a low breath he gave his attention back to the top table and, seeing the way all the Mobians there were looking now, realised the source of the kitchen commotion he'd noticed scant moments before,

"To all below, who make this time every year possible for us, and to the couple who keep the home of our grandfathers in the condition we find it now, we thank you all", Nessie nodded and raised her glass to her lips, the gesture echoed by the rest of her family and assorted guests; even as he cemented the toast, Big was rather proud of himself as he saw freckled girl who'd served both him and Mighty drop the aged armadillo a small curtsey before turning a bright brick red, "Wull, Bekka and your staff new and old; don't hide from me all of you, some I can recognise even now", a couple of the older members of the kitchen staff chuckled or began scrutinising the floor in the face of Nessie's acerbic eye even if the smile on her face took most of the sting out of her expression, "you can't hate us all that much or you wouldn't come back. But regardless, thank you all again – without you this simply wouldn't happen. As it is though, one of you might have to do this old Mobian a favour; you there, yes, the boy with the cock-a-leekie on his apron". The named chef's assistant, after looking down and assuring himself that yes, Nessie was actually talking directly to him, pointed to himself and swallowed,

"Umm, yea Ms?"

"Go fetch the old rag off the back wall, you know the one", he nodded rapidly; Big guessed there wasn't a single member of staff who didn't know what Nessie was referring to – if no-one in Mighty's family pointed them in the right direction he'd have staked all the fish he caught in a year that Bekka or her husband would have clued them in, "bring it over here, we've got the thread already; hand it to David there, the grey panther if you're not sure; he's the neatest stitching of us all".

"Why thank you Ness", the other feline in the room replied with a little acid in his tone, obviously not appreciating her drawing attention to his fur losing its natural colouring with the onset of age, "when they want a description of your fine self I'll be sure to return such compliments". The older Mobian shook her head, the rest of her family firmly behind her as she took the fight to her antagonist,

"Ah be away with you, you know what I meant Dr Doom-and-Gloom; just get that needle and thread of yours ready, your skills are needed once more". The panther cast a glance over his shoulder, seeing the tapestry being reverentially carried across the floor towards them both, its bearer carrying it delicately at arms-length to make sure it didn't touch either the floor or his less-than-spotless apron,

"You know every year I find myself questioning my long-held belief that involuntary euthanasia is the way forwards, then, every year, I come back here and I'm reminded why I think that way"; Nessie said nothing but her look was worth far more than the usual thousand words, most of them unspeakable in polite company. Fortunately for David, the arrival of the tapestry precluded her for giving him the earful he deserved and, like everyone else, she sank back into her chair and spoke not a word as, after cleaning his glasses on his napkin one last time and making sure they were positioned correctly across his broad nose, the panther took up the tiny twig of metal he'd poked through the tablecloth by the side of him, threaded it dexterously with what looked to Big like a sliver strand; _funny, don't…yeah, all the names are in gold – ah, but the lines between them are silver. That makes sense now – if he sews in the lines first he'll know exactly how much room he's got left to play with when it comes to sewing in Mina and Jess_; just as Big made this deduction, David plunged the needle through the ancient history of his family and secured the first link towards another stone in the bedrock of Mighty's family, the foundations of its newest generation.

XXX

In all the time the panther sewed and stitched, the silence that ensued around him was broken only twice and both times it was by David himself; at each stage he asked the respective parents the name of their new child and the correct spelling of such a name. The latter of these two breaks in the vigil, however, was by far the most heated of the pair,

"Yeah Dave, Annabelle; two N's and an L. Oh, and while you're there", David remained poised, needle catching the light above his head as Sam grinned, sitting back in his seat and folding his hands behind his head, "just to finish this once and for all; it is definitely Jess – not Jessica and certainly not Jeza-You-Know-Who". The panther sighed,

"Oh wonderful; you could have told me that before I'd started her name – now I'll have to unpick it".

"You what?" The armadillo jumped up so fast he nearly slumped forwards off his seat, eyes darting between the cat at the head of the table and the thunderous expression of his better half, "Dave, please tell me you're joking, the missus'll never forgive me".

"Very well, I was joking", ivory canines peeped out from under the panther's thin lips as he pulled off the trick he'd had in mind since beginning his yearly labour, "I wouldn't want to upset Paula like that, I wouldn't dare", he added, flicking his eyes towards her guiltily. The squirrel laughed,

"Too right you wouldn't; I tell you this now, all of you in fact, listen up", her voice rose in line with her temper as she half-stood and made her declaration, "the first one of you shell-backs that sends my little princess a present or a card of any variety addressed to Jezabel, I'll be tracking you down and stitching you up, in a body-bag". There was a second of silence before, with a clearing of his throat, Mighty's oldest uncle addressed her youngest with a troubled expression on his face,

"You know Sam", Gavin spoke as David resumed sewing in the name of his latest relation, "ever considered running her through a course of anger-management therapy?"

"Nah", the younger armadillo shook his head, reaching behind him as Paula sashayed past his seat; the squirrel didn't resist as one of her partner's arms hooked around her slim waist and pulled her in, their daughter's feet resting atop the shell on the crown of his head, "don't reckon she'd be the same if I did; the rage is what makes it all worth it, 'specially when the lights go out; the sparks that fly then, wowee, November-fifth every night!"

Gavin had to cover his mouth to hold his mirth in as Big grinned; _they'll be fireworks tonight I'll bet, mostly working in Paula's fists if her face is anything to go by_. That much was certainly true; though the cat fancied he could see a hint of subtle humour in the squirrel's expression, it was immediately swamped by the rising ire that was virtually boiling the blood in her face past boiling point, and the only thing that stopped the fingers she had rested on the top of Sam's head gouging bloody furrows down his scalp was his shell.

"Enough", the puff of the vaporiser that followed that word let everyone know who had spoken, "there's a time for talk like that and it's not now". Both brothers immediately lowered their heads respectfully, voices low and penitent,

"Yes Nana". _Point well made_; as he kept his piece Big wondered if there was any way any member of his family would have been able to silence the more boisterous members with just a single word and curt gesture – if there was he couldn't think who it'd be. The cat leant to the side of him, whispering from the corner of his mouth,

"She's got them well-trained hasn't she", Mighty sniggered a touch as he finished, "I thought it'd take a lot more than that to stop Gav in full flow, your dad never managed it".

"Nah, he never will either – we all love our nana", the armadillo's eyes travelled up to the first table and melted in benevolence as they beheld the figurehead held there, "she says jump, we ask into what mud just because she's our nana. Nessie, she's just been there forever", if a small, malicious part of herself whispered that this state of affairs couldn't persist eternally she refused to acknowledge it as she carried on, explaining to Big what he couldn't fully understand, not after to brief an exposure to her unique family life, "she's the one who's looked after all of us at one time or another, told us all stories to quieten us down at night and send us to sleep – she's just…there, and because she's been there longer than any of the rest of us we love her for it". The cat nodded in kind, getting a picture in his mind and storing it away for working on later; the groundwork laid and just needing to be worked on in a quiet moment when he was back home,

"I see". _Heh, you always did know when to say things and when to keep quiet_; one of the things Mighty had found so appealing about the Mobian beside her, and that had gone down a storm with her mother in kind, was his unerring ability to know when to talk and when to let others speak instead of him. He was the epitome strong, silent type and that was a combination the armadillo had been seeking for a long time before, completely by accident, she'd fallen in on Big's neat, ordered but secluded world and blown its borders wide apart.

"I know", she whispered back in the same soft, understand tone he'd used before something else registered in her vision; having stayed trained on the head table of the Steppes' feasting hall, she recognised the trademark tug David always used to break the thread he was stitching with and, quickly seeing he was using the gold lace, names rather than directional markers, she raised her voice a touch, "hang on, looks like something's up".

"Apart from the ceiling?"; _ouch_; she shot her grinning partner a disgusted look before explaining what she was sure he'd already understood,

"Yes, the bedrooms are all up as well in case you'd forgotten"; _forgotten – never, though maybe I deserved something like that_; at heart Big was honest enough to know that his earlier comment had been deserving of a put-down or two and as such stayed quiet as the armadillo finalised her thoughts, "but looks like Dave's done with the old dishcloth this time around; yep, there we go, just a few more minutes before we get down to some serious playtime". _Now that_; recognising her last word the cat raised a quizzical but nevertheless interested eyebrow;_ sounds like something I could get into…_

XXX

"Oh yes, jackpot!" A minute later Big found himself breathing in as, having watched the David show his work for Nessie's scrutiny and, upon gaining her blessing that it passed muster, seeing the panther hang the tapestry back in its normal pride of place at the back of the hall, Mighty had immediately plunged her hands onto the handles the protruded from the drawer in the table she and Big were sat at. Looking left and right as he didn't trust himself to look down without rolling some of his bulk forwards and crushing the armadillo's exploratory fingers in the table itself, the cat realised everyone else seemed to be following suit; obviously the solemn, serious bit of the ceremony had ended with the two new names being sewed into place on the hallowed record of Mighty's family history and now the playtime Mighty had mentioned was well and truly begun.

"Okay, cards, Scrabble, and, I think that's a Jenga set; pretty good choice down here mate".

"Oh, good", Big managed to whisper back in a trembling voice, beginning to feel light-headed after holding his stomach in for so long; suddenly there was a slam of wood on wood and he was relieved, letting both breath and waist out at the same time with an explosive gasp. He closed his eyes as vertigo assailed him for a split-second, the inside of his eyelids throbbing pink-red as fresh oxygen made it to his lungs again and he began to feel a little more himself – to disguise his momentary discomfort, he enquired from his relaxed position, "so, what'd you go for in the end?"

"This", a clatter of tumbling blocks greeted both his ears and eyes as he re-opened them, Mighty already beginning to construct the required structure for the game she so enjoyed, "don't get the chance to play it often back on the island; Vector's not very good 'cause his fingers are too thick, plus he's scaly so he can't really feel if the whole thing's about to go if he taps the brick he's after, and two-player with Charmy gets a bit old after a while".

"What about…?" Mighty cut him off with a raised hand, eyes hardened to jade stones as memories of hr least-favoured workmate came back to haunt her for a moment,

"Don't ask, waste of breath even trying to get him to join in. Bloody chameleon's cold-hearted as well as cold-blooded – if he had his way the Chaotix would live in the M.E. shrine, he's certainly in love with the place, much as he's in love with anything". Big shrugged,

"He always looked a bit off that one, I wonder why; not that I'd ever ask him".

"Sensible man", Mighty grunted in reply as she set up the pile of wooden blocks in front of them, "in a way he's just like dad – never has to say anything but, if you've put a foot wrong you know about it and he never lets you forget". The cat gave a second snort and leant forwards,

"Well as of now you can forget about him, there's no way he'd ever survive up here in the winter time. If anything I'd bet it's a bit of a struggle him and Vec making it through on Angel Island without curling up under a blanket and sleeping most of the cold away. Whatever though", deftly flicking forwards the claw on his little finger, the cat smoothly slid a block at the bottom half of the stack out of its place, letting it clatter to the table top before placing it carefully on top of its wooden brothers in the beginning of a new row, "your move". Mighty pursed her lips and shot him a sideways look, eyeing up his display of a skill she'd thought he'd be lacking in; _though I forgot he could use his claws – they might be thin so they'll give him the advantage in the early game but I'd bet he couldn't feel through them as well as I can with my fingertips. I'll have to play the long game and wear him down that way_; before she could plan her first offensive against the Jenga stack, however, another voice cut in,

"Ah, just started have you?" As usually her eldest uncle didn't wait for an answer before making his next offer, "wait a second and I'll join you, unless I could offer one of you two the chance to join me?" Seeing the packet in his hand Mighty shook her head just as Gavin had expected; before his gaze could flick to Big though, his unspoken question was answered by his son's voice from just over his shoulder,

"No point dad, neither of them'll brave the elements for the sake of a crafty one in the doorway, I asked last night".

"True enough", Big reinforced Derek's comment with one of his own, politely restraining Gavin's offer of a cigarette, "tried them once, coughed my lungs up and decided I didn't like them. Oh, Derek, better make that a couple of chairs if you're joining in as well". The younger of the two armadillos nodded and set about liberating a chair from somewhere as his father shrugged, extracting a smoke from the packet and heading for the door, calling back over his shoulder,

"Good lad, easiest way to stop's never start in the first place; Might, he's avoided that bad habit, don't you go leading him off into any more got it?" Stung by his joke, his niece gave a bark of laughter,

"From you that's rich. You, Gavin Armadillo, are the undisputed king of bad habits in this family; you trying to warn anyone off them's like having Hannibal Lecter heading a parole board". Gavin narrowed his eyes and drew a breath up through his lips, the sound ominously spine-chilling even across the hall, though the illusion of fear was broken as a smile escaped his lips. As he turned his attention away from them, and after checking Derek was still occupied with tracking down enough extra chairs for the new players in the game, Mighty leant across and whispered suspiciously,

"Tried them once?" Her boyfriend gave a sly smile, chuckling as he answered,

"Quick puff behind the bike-sheds; I didn't get caught but I didn't like them anyway". Her jaw fell open for a second before, infected with the humour that pervaded his explanations of a childhood misdemeanour, Mighty found herself sniggering along with the cat, imagining him much younger and trying to pluck up the courage to take a first, fatal drag on the lit stick before him. _Somehow, if anyone was going to get away with it it'd have to be you_; just about managing to contain herself, Mighty merely shook her head and ironed her expression flat as Derek approached with a chair in each hand, apparently unaware of what had been whispered between his cousin and her partner, a state of affairs she wanted to keep that way as long as possible; _after all, just a hint of a bad habit is all he needs to blow you wide open – I know dad still reckons those Scrabble tiles that got lodged in his slippers that year was his fault – hah_; her gaze travelled up the table to where Stefan had resumed his endless games of patience; _you'll never know it, but that was me!_

XXX

"Dah", as the weakened stack collapsed again in a clattering heap and the rest of the players let out whoops of delight at not having to build it back up again Gavin tossed the brick he held back onto the pile disgustedly, "ruddy thing, should have been safe as houses – that was a soft brick. Anyway, for someone with hands that size you're not half-sharp at this game". His eyes were half-mirthful, half-accusing as Big merely leaned back in his seat, folding his hands behind his head and casting the rest of the table into shadow as he grinned in response,

"Gotta love those inbuilt extensions", the cat grinned, the claws of his fingers appearing from behind his ears as he spoke, "anyway, you know what they say about Mobians with big hands?"

"No", suddenly Gavin and his son mirrored the cat's suggestive smile, both internally burning up as they took in the sight of Mighty's face falling faster than the Jenga blocks just had, "don't know; does Mighty, more's the point?"

"I should hope so"; _you are so dead_; the armadillo to the side of him stated that thought with interest as she covered her face with a hand, knowing without having to look how Derek would be having to steal himself away in order not to break down laughing at her plight, "we wear big gloves".

"Oh is that all?" Just for a second she hoped she'd be able to get away with that – no such luck, "Might, you're keeping quiet about this whole thing – anything else you've noticed about this Mobian's big hands, or what he's able to do with them?" Her hand drooped lower, letting both her relatives see the ire in her eye as her words came thickly, grating like sand being pounded through a colander,

"He can do everything from build houses to catch fish with them", she turned her ignited gaze up to where Big was trying to look nonchalant, "but nothing he can do with them has ever come from working on me I assure you". The cat huffed, looking affronted,

"Oh is that so? Of course, I forgot, it's the magical pixies that get rid of the gribbles for you when you're in Mystic Ruins, nothing to do with me getting my claws dirty under there". As he gave her shell a bit of a tap Derek registered an interest after a glance at his father and seeing the same question he wanted to ask germinating in that familiar brow,

"Sorry mate, you're a cure for…"

"Of course he is; he doesn't just use his claws when he's playing Jenga does he?" Mighty answered, still not entirely over being miffed with her relatives and significant other for conspiring to trip her up as they just had, "they just slide up and scrape out; I don't even have to raise plates".

"Seriously?" Big nodded; Gavin gave a whistle of approval before nodding at his niece, "nicely found there you; keep it under wraps or they'll be queuing 'round the block of him, 'specially at this time of year". Big chuckled, leaning to the side of him and using his reach to pull Mighty into his side,

"Sorry, this cure's reserved for free for one armadillo only; all others considered on a cost-by-case basis". Big smiled, though that smile froze a little as his girlfriend, taking revenge for his earlier innuendo, slowly tugged out a handful of his winter coat; _ow, ow, ow – stop this pain!_ With a rocking motion he drew away from her at the cost of a couple more precious and deep-rooted hairs, rubbing down the stinging in his side as Mighty, putting them back on level terms, reached forwards and easily eased the first brick free from the pile her uncle had just made,

"There we go, easy as that; after you Derry".

"My pleasure Mole", the elder armadillo scowled, the swapping of childhood nicknames much more loathed by himself than by Mighty; he hated that old name with a passion that verged on the pathological at times, "and don't call me that – I mean it!"

"He means it", Gavin cut in from the sidelines, a warning glance to the pair sat opposite him making sure they got the message as, obviously aside from his son, he was the only Mobian present to know exactly why Derek hated that pet name, "don't you go teasing him to throw off his game plan Mighty; you just concentrate on your own. You're going to need to this game I can tell you 'cause we…", taking his cue he knocked out one of the very bottom row of bricks even before Derek had placed his removed piece on top of the puzzle again, "…are on fire". Mighty wrinkled her nose,

"Really? I was wondering what that smell was, just though it was you pair letting rip like a pair of old jeans, as usual". _Oooh, busted_; so unexpected was the retort from his normally placid family-member that Gavin nearly dropped the brick he was holding, his son by the side of his clapping a hand over his mouth to stop his laughter escaping; _can't argue with it – better stick with the indignant-old-man routine until I get chance to think of something better…_;

"Now that is a gross untruth…" At the sound of a retching chuckle behind him, coupled with Big shaking his head, forced to almost bite his lip to stop the laughter from whimpering out of him, Gavin just knew this was destined not to be his night,

"Not from where I'm standing it isn't". Left to make the best of it as he could, he span around in his seat to observe the newcomer with an exasperated sigh,

"What do you want, and you, you of all Mobians, have absolutely no right to go for anyone for body-odour Mr Fish-madillo".

XXX

As Big had expected, it was indeed Reuben stood behind the father-and-son team that were sat opposite himself and his partner; the older armadillo spared enough time for a wink at where Mighty was just about keeping a lid on her internal mirth before, to the cat's surprise, he turned to address him after finishing his verbal joust with his nephew,

"I want nothing at all from you Gavin, you can take that as a given; actually Big, I was hoping to find you here".

"Well, here I am", the cat chuckled, pushing himself away from the table a little and standing up as the older Mobian continued to address him, "what for?" Reuben smiled, rubbing his forehead for a second before making his objective plain,

"Well, thing was I was wondering if you'd be interested in joining me tomorrow"; _something's special about tomorrow – what is it…?_; just before the cat could connect memory to mouth the armadillo had answered his internal query, "got to get dinner on the plate for me and Peg, makes time fly when you've got a bit of company doing it. You've got a fair arm on you, fancy giving the old flies a bit of an airing?"

"Shouldn't you be asking Mighty that? I mean surely she'd want a say in the matter, you asking her boyfriend to go airing his flies in your direction"; _knew you'd never resist it_; he'd known those words had been a mistake from the second he'd opened his mouth and he also knew that Derek, beloved great-nephew that he was, had unfortunately inherited his father's knack of putting the worst-possible spin on an innocent comment with the sole purpose of causing equal parts offence and hilarity; _and somehow, it works every time_.

"Well, let's put it to the lady herself", Big had been snared to a certain extent though Reuben was hopeful he hadn't caved in completely to temptation and he might just get away with nothing worse than what he'd been exposed to as the cat swivelled in his seat to where his great-niece had her head down, shell-ridge almost touching the table as she fought for even a hint of self-control, "Mighty, can you spare me and my flies tomorrow?"

"I…", Reuben watched as she somehow hoisted herself back to her full height and sucked down a deep breath of air, "…I suppose I could, but Reuben"; _uh oh_; the elder armadillo knew trouble when he saw it and there was no end to the ocean of glittering mischief suddenly swimming in Mighty's jade-stone eyes, "I expect what's in those flies to be left untouched; I'm not tying any more of them for you, you're on your own now if you break any".

_You are going to break down_; if thoughts had had a volume button Reuben's mental implorations would have deafened half his family; _you are going to shatter like the pair of them in front of me have – you are going to do it quickly, Peggy's already looking suspicious_; somehow though Mighty failed to pick up on her great-uncle's almost psychic demands and simply sat where she was, aloof and impenetrable as all around her collapsed into helpless bedlam, a slight strain on her smile the only indication that she was having to resist any urge at laughter at all.

"Sh, shelly", Derek managed to gasp, one of his hands flopping over the table perilously close to the newly rebuilt Jenga pile, knuckles quivering as their owner shook with laughter, "that was priceless, thahahat was gold; put hehehee, put her there". Somehow not noticing Reuben's attempts to reduce her mortal coil to shrivelled ash with a sustained glare, the quipper reached across and grazed the back of her hand against her cousins as her grin finally broke out of the iron hold she'd clamped down on it to a small degree,

"I've had a lot of practise – no, trust me, some of the bunch I'm cobbled together with these days would have you on your tail laughing within about thirty seconds of meeting you. Anyway, to properly answer your question uncle"; _oh, glad you could finally get around to it_; Reuben attempted to keep his furious look but, like most things when this particular niece of his was involved, his stony countenance broke and bore fruit as she scattered the seed of her words upon it, "as long as Big's okay with it, I've not got a problem – I don't suppose you've any idea how long it'd take?" Defeated for the minute, Reuben simply shrugged,

"As ever, none in the slightest though I don't expect you to stay all day", he told the cat fairly as Big finally managed to sit back up again, one massive paw shaking its way up to clear the tears of hilarity from his eyes, "just come and find me whenever you're ready, after breakfast some time if I'm any judge, then just go when you've had enough". Taking a last second to look around, the cat caught Mighty's eye and, seeing in there what he'd expected to see, turned to the older armadillo and nodded in agreement,

"Should be fine Reuben, thanks for the offer; can't say when I'll see you but it should be sometime in the morning", the armadillo quietly affirmed what he'd heard and made to sidle off quietly somewhere to lick his wounded pride, now, until then"; _please no_; not that the fisherMobian had anything against socialising but right now Reuben just wanted to get somewhere quiet and away from the rest of his relatives, all of whom, he was certain, would be fully aware of the gaffe he'd made before the end of the evening, "will you join us, we've just got the board made up?"

"Umm, ah", Reuben shook his head, trying hard not to notice all three of his relatives hiding smirks as Big unknowingly impaled him on a fresh hook, "nah, sorry but this sort of game's not my thing, not got steady enough hands – the only reason I can fly-fish at all is because David managed to get hold of a little gizmo some precision engineers use to hold things steady; I'd not be able to thread the weights and hooks otherwise".

"Fair enough", the cat said evenly, still a little put-out that his offer couldn't be taken up by the Mobian in Mighty's family who echoed most of his own leisure pursuits; _although…would you need steady hands for that, I don't think so_; "but, there's another game we could all join in, maybe". This time Mighty leant back as he reached down and pulled open the drawer in the table a touch, scanning the narrow crevice for any sign of what he'd need at the same time as recall all the rules for the game Amy had taught them all just before he and Mighty had come away to Scotland for the Christmas period.

"What're you looking for?"

"Dice", the cat replied shortly to Gavin's question, "Mighty, remember liar dice; the one Amy said about just before…" The armadillo gave an explosive nod after thinking for a second,

"Yes! Good thinking there Batman; right, you lot, get yourselves moving and see how many dice you can scrounge up, you'll need five each to join in. Big, if you look for a handful for me I'll head down to the kitchens and see if they've any of those plastic beakers to spare, we'd better use them rather than the fine china if we're going to be banging them down on the table all night. Well, what you all waiting for, someone to kiss you goodbye?" At her command all four of the other Mobians finally snapped out of their stupor and headed off to look for what they needed at the same time as Mighty smirked; _thanks for that one batgirl_;

"Not looking for that I can tell you", in the middle of thanking Rouge mentally as she used one of the bat's favourite lines, her cousin's voice crashed down to spoil the party somewhat, "in fact out the lot of us only Big'd be after anything like that from you". She sent a glare his way, vindictively happy that his smirk quickly vanished as she made her displeasure plain before trekking across towards the kitchens themselves, stopping at the head of the stairs for just an instant, the corner of her eye just catching a fleeting glimpse of purple in her vision and freezing it there for a second; Derek's comment echoing in her mind as she slowly licked her lips for a minute, memories of what had happened not very long ago at all between the cat and herself; _Big might be after it all right, but unless he manages to pull the wool over my eyes like he did just after he dragged my name through the mud after introducing himself to the older grandmothers and fathers, he only gets it when I say he can!_

XXX

"Have to hand it to you pal", Big looked over his shoulder as he smoothed out the bottom sheet of his bed for the night, Derek already sat on his bunk and pulling off his shoes, "that was a game and a half – liar dice you call it?"

"Well that's what I was told it was called; like a lot of card games really, probably got hundreds of names", the cat mentioned amiably before giving a chuckle, "though that said I agree with you, it was great fun; quite literally the more players the merrier".

"Though it got a bit silly towards the end; what was it, seventeen, eighteen of us?" The armadillo shook his head as much as he was able to, his neck as always constrained by the restrictions of his shell, "twenty-three sixes, and there were as well".

"It's all down to the luck of the dice and how good you are at managing to fake a better hand than you've actually got", the cat let him down genteelly; _though you have to admit there were a couple of jammy hands in there as well, and quite a few of them were yours_; "of course, it does help if you can roll a good hand once in a while; was it you or your dad that never rolled higher than a pair all night?"

It was a rhetorical question of course; the cat knew even before Derek answered what the answer was going to be, but the look on the armadillo's face made the asking worthwhile in its own right,

"It was me", he said disgustedly, flipping his feet into the bed and rolling over onto his front, the characters marked out on the back of his scarred grey shell showing up clearly in the sliver of moonlight that peeked out from the crack in the curtains, "typical of my luck that is; never get a half-decent hand in cards either, you'll see that tomorrow when we go to the races". _Races?_;

"Races?" Big's mind and mouth acted as one just before he sat down to go to sleep himself, "they're not going at this time of year surely?" They armadillo looked over, a lazy smile on his lips as he regarded the cat calculatingly,

"They're not, you're dead right, but we're racing anyway. Ask no more", he forestalled further questioning simply by looking away, "because that's all I'm saying on the matter; you'll see what's what tomorrow night, probably just after you get away from Reuben". Big shook his head before reclining on the bed he'd claimed as his own, facing upwards towards the ceiling as he answered,

"Nah, won't be staying all day, want to spend a bit of time with Mighty, especially with it being Christmas Eve and all; only two days to go then it's the big day after all. Can't wait!" he added, just an edge of excitement in his voice as his entire frame gave a little shudder of anticipation; his answer was a snort of mirth as Derek made his own point on the matter,

"Don't think any of us can; in fact all things considered you're probably in the best place of all of us to get away from the whole anticipation thing of Mr Claus's visit. I'll tell you for free, this time tomorrow the kids'll be bouncing off the walls and not daring to sleep in case they miss the reindeer flying overhead, and a fair few of the adults'll be in a similar boat".

"That good huh? Reminds me of home", the cat shrugged, though a small, contrite frown found its way to his lips as his mind turned towards home, wondering if the rest of his family had all their decorations up yet, especially with his mothers' bad back the way it was. _I'll have to ring them tomorrow, I could do it while I'm walking past the Otter, assuming I can get a signal out here_; at least he could try though, that was something to look forwards to in the morning. Trying to put such thoughts from his mind as they made him feel a little under the weather when he should have been the happiest he'd ever been in his life, the cat forced his mind to focus backwards, use his flawless memory as it should be used, recall the happiest parts of his life so far rather than the most miserable; _yeah, that was good, the look on Mighty's face when she thought that she'd rolled four fives instead of checking and seeing she only had three_; it wasn't perhaps the nicest thing to imagine, his partner tripping over a mnemonic lapse of her own, but it did the trick in focussing his mind on other, much more pleasant aspects of his trip over the water to Scotland instead of dwelling on how the rest of his family were coping over the winter months. In fact he was almost beginning to drift off into sleep before such a gentle descent in the realms of slumber was abruptly arrested by Derek's voice,

"Hey Big", the cat's eye's shot open and he half-sat up before recognising he was being spoken to conversationally, "just remembered, sorry if you were drifting off"; _bit late, but nice of him to apologise I guess_; "what was David talking to you about while we were playing, just after he got knocked out?" The cat thought back a minute and rolled onto his side in the same movement, regarding the armadillo across the room with a confused expression,

"What makes you ask?"

"Just being nosey I guess", Derek admitted uncomfortably, squirming a little under his blankets before looking away, "its not important or anything, don't answer that if…"

"No, no don't worry about that", the cat's voice ran over his own, pointing out that he took no offence at the query, "it was about something that came up earlier between Mighty and I, just a bit of a question we weren't sure of. She said she'd ask him, he seems to be the one you all ask when you're not sure of something – why is that?"

"You don't know?" As the cat shook his head the armadillo opposite him chuckled a touch, "He's a studying nut; we all reckon he was one of the founding members of the Open University; if he wasn't he must have financed it for most of its life. You know how you and Reuben like fishing, and how dad and I like winding up Stefan come to that I suppose?"

"As if that could have escaped my notice", the cat rumbled genially before his voice hardened and he tipped the other Mobian a wink, "and an excellent job you do of it, together with Mighty's help when she can get away with it". Derek grinning in kind, a couple of paradime examples of the pranks they had pulled on their obnoxious relative coming back to entertain him behind his eyes even as he answered the cats' unasked question,

"Well David's like that with his studying; he just collects degrees, PhDs and what-not like other people collect stamps. Don't know why he does it, he just always has – pretty much every year he's got some new bit of paper or other to wow us all with; if anyone would know about what you were on about, he'd be the bloke to see. What were you asking anyway?"

"It was about Mina", Big mused, scratching his chin for a second as he memorised that little detail of the elderly panthers' mind; _he's the one to see for anything to do with higher learning – wonder if he's got a speciality or anything like that? Have to ask him later, after I've answered this_; "saw her earlier with Roddy and I wondered, we wondered actually, if she could actually marry later on in life, into this family I mean, the one that's adopted her now?"

As he'd expected Derek's reaction to the question mimicked his cousins to a certain degree; like Mighty he gave a choked laugh and splutter before turning to regard the cat with an expression stuck somewhere between humour and horror,

"Wha, why the hell would she…she's only, what, fourteen, if that?"

"I know that, I didn't mean there and then", the cat snapped back, almost irritated before softening his tone again, "I meant when she was grown up, would there be any law to stop her marrying into your mob since she's an adopted child?" Derek let out a ragged breath through pursed lips, the intermittent rasping noise seeming to help jog his thinking processes before in the end he gave up,

"Absolutely no idea; what did ol' Bageerha say – oh", suddenly the armadillo regarded Big directly, the humour gone from his face as he imparted his warning, "never call him that to his face unless you fancy an immediate morphine-free facelift. He's still not forgiven Kipling yet".

"I can guess", the tabby sympathised with his feline counterpart before shrugging, "but anyway, he wasn't sure about the law as it stands, said he'd look it up for me and let me know next time he had chance". Derek goggled,

"You're serious?" Big nodded and he gave a sharp chuckle, "finally, there is something David doesn't know about, he's usually an infallible brain-box – nothing against smart people but when they're forever answering all your questions it can get a bit wearing, you know what I mean?"

"Oh yeah", Big said quietly, trying to banish the end result of his time as a mislabelled 'brain-box' and having a hard time doing so; the black cross, still dribbling as the paint hadn't dried properly over the canvas it was befouling, scarred his mind again before with an effort he pulled it away, the pain like ripping off an old plaster from a cut that hadn't healed properly, "I know. Anyway, I'm ready to hit the hay for the night – gotta help someone land their dinner tomorrow, might need a good kip for that", the cat explained, crossing his fingers that Derek wouldn't see his appetite to talk further had been evaporated by the armadillo's unintentional comment, "so, see you in the morning".

"'Night"; _yes, it is now_; his ears twitched as he heard Derek roll over once more and breathed again before closing his eyes and trying to summon the resolve necessary to scour the last of the mnemonic poison that had spilt from his past from the forefront of his mind; _and sleep is a long way away tonight. But I will sleep_; iron in his mind told him that he would; he would not be found wanting tomorrow, not so close to his girlfriend's special day; _and I'll get ready for whatever happens tomorrow, be it fishing, races or whatever comes!_

XXX

To his surprise he did, in the end, sleep remarkably well; only the fact that Derek accidentally brushed open the curtains as he got up himself stirred the cat to wakefulness. Sitting up in bed, Big covered his mouth as he heaved down a deep yawn and looked around for his clothes blearily, grunting a greeting as he did so,

"Morning".

"Yeah, too early in it", the armadillo complained, trying to stand up again and failing miserably before throwing his hands up at the world, "no, forget it, I'm having a lay-in; tell 'em to save me some breakfast when you get down there".

"Will do", the cat agreed as he fastened the laces of his huge boots, wriggling his toes inside the boat-like clothing and, after taking a second to focus on the next task, heaved himself upwards to a vertical base; he had to grit his teeth against the sudden redness that swamped his vision as he demanded a huge effort from his muscles so early in the morning, but he managed to find his feet in the end, rewarding his body with another huge yawns-worth of air as he stood up and buckled up his belt again. Stretching off as much as he was able to for the early hour of the day, Big headed towards the door of his room; in fact he was in the act of reaching for the handle itself before a series of hollow thumps were transmitted through the wood of the structure itself. Pausing, the cat looked over his shoulder only to see Derek looking as nonplussed as he was; _well, not going to find out standing here like a dummy am I?_ With that thought in his mind the cat reached for the door handle and reached it this time, pulling the way open and looking outside,

"Hello…?" He received no answer save a quick gust of wind around his shins; it was only when he heard a strangled explosion from behind him, mingled with a delighted shriek, that he turned around and shook with silent laughter at the scene in front of him; _lie-in terminated with extreme prejudice_;

"Hi D", as his uncle tried to recapture the breath that had been forced out of him by his nephew's landing, Roddy continued his bright, bubbly greeting, unconcerned with the doom that was heading his way, "Uncle Gav said you'd need help getting up today, asked if I'd do tha'honours".

"Oh, did he?" Derek grated through his sore stomach and ribs, glaring up at where Roddy was perched on top of his bedcovers, "and you said yes?"

"Umm, yeah?"

"Right", the older armadillo drawled; Big was so tempted to warn Roddy about what was coming but decided against it as he reckoned Derek probably wouldn't have thanked him for the effort, "so you've woken me up, far too early in the morning I might add, just because my dad said you should – okay, know what that means?"

"Umm…ahh!" Even while Roddy was thinking Derek pounced, seizing him by his elbows and forearms, dragging him down and bellowing,

"You're dead ya little…"

"Eeehhhheeee", Roddy didn't have a hope as his uncle turned the tables and started tickling his stomach and, most crucially, the sides of his shell, where he really couldn't stand it, "h,h,heeelllllpp!" _No chance, more than my tails' worth_; the cat shook his head and stepped outside, leaving the two warring family members to it as he headed downstairs; _those two - remind me far too much of another couple of Mobians who should have grown up by now but never got around to it. In fact_; tracing back in his mind, the cat redressed that guess with a smile as he noticed a few more Mobians in that bracket than just Sonic and Tails; _they remind me of several couples of Mobians who should have grown up by now, me and Mighty included!_

XXX

"So", despite the fact she knew he'd be making a move soon, Mighty remained upbeat that, even if he was gone all day, she'd at least have the night to enjoy his company, "you best get a move on; the forecast said it should stay clear all day but take it from me nothing's a given up here this time of year". Draining the last of his tea, Big nodded,

"I know, I've heard", he said as soon as he could politely speak, "your mum filled me in on that on the way up here. Still, I reckon that's enough for now", the cat looked down on the crumb-fleck remnants of his breakfast, "best take your advice Mighty, first time for everything I suppose". The armadillo pursed her lips as he laughed, fires of battle kindling up from the embers in her eyes as her partner enjoyed a hint of mockery at her expense,

"And sometime soon I'll take your mum's advice and spare the hoover, know where I'm coming from?" Remembering what had happened last night Big winced, standing up and edging away from where Mighty had formed her fingers into a pair of pincers to pluck away at his vulnerable coat,

"Not quite but I know where I'm going", the cat shot back, hastening to get away until he saw Mighty glance down for a second; knowing what that meant by dint of knowing the armadillo so well, Big stopped his ungainly flight and instead headed towards her, tapping her shoulder and mentioning more gently, "I'll be back whenever; if you need me before that I'll have my phone on okay?" Mighty looked up at him, a sardonic grin playing on her lips as she spoke on,

"I'll manage I'm sure; I have done for these past few years"; _though not as well as I have done this one, that's for sure_; "anyway, I'll probably be helping mum and the others get everything ready for tomorrow and the last thing I'd need then is you under my feet, assuming you'd ever fit under them in the first place. Take as long as you want to Big", she said sincerely, honestly wanting to do as much fishing as he felt like doing because she knew how happy it made him, "I'm sure not going anywhere".

"I know", the cat replied gently, as he always did when he knew she was being honest, "I'd best get going though – take advantage of the good weather. Anything you want saying to Reuben; anything constructive?" _I know that look, and that one_; somehow he kept his face blank as Mighty, defeated at the second of her triumph, simply scowled at him before shaking her head, giving him a pat on the back and pointing towards the door.

"Nah, just tell him to bring back a decent bite for him and Aunt Peg. Go on, you best get going", she winked as he nodded, making to head for the door, "and don't come back without dinner".

_She's one to talk_; Big's thoughts lightly darkened as he recalled her parting words on the way down past the Green Otter pub; _she couldn't hunt shoes in a shoebox to save her life_. Still that didn't matter, as long as she was with him he'd be more than happy to do the hunter-gathering bit for the both of them and, thinking along those lines, he put a bit of a spurt on towards the loch where Reuben was waiting for him, never for a single second thinking that, in all the time he was moving down to go fishing, someone else was shadowing his footsteps.

A/N: And who might that be? I leave you to your guessing – hopefully, assuming I can squeeze a little free time into my life, the last chapter of this story should be ready shortly.


	13. Chapter 13 And for Keeps

Chapter 13 – …And for Keeps.

A/N: Sorry for the delay as always; trust me, when I win the Lottery I'll be writing fanfic every hour God sends but until then I'm having to work for an honest crust like everyone else. This would have been the last chapter but for one thing I only noticed when I started writing it – this is chapter 13 and no way am I writing a fic that long, it'll be doomed to bad luck. Anyway, before we start, just a quick note for the reviewer:

Ri2: I don't think Big could be adopted by Mighty's family, due to the simple fact he's got one himself; marriage though, that's a different matter. Luckily though this isn't the last chapter, though unfortunately not all the fics I write can be thirty-chapter epic much as I'd like them to be! Hope you enjoy it.

With a whirr and an almost undetectable splashing noise, the fly touched down in the water with a barely a ripple; even before it had settled down properly Big's fingers had pinched together on the end of the reel, ready to drag the prosthetic water insect back towards the bank where he and his fishing partner sat; _don't reel in smoothly either, make it jerky and relatively slow – if it doesn't look realistic the fish won't go for it_. Just as the cat thought of such a thing and made the first move with his fingers, the armadillo by the side of him let out a low whistle and nodded appreciatively,

"You've a good arm Big; good arm and a fine eye".

"Thanks", the cat spoke back even as his eyes never left the water before him; an experienced fisherMobian through and through, Big knew that the second his attention wavered and the second the fish decided to have a bite at his lure had an unfortunate habit of being one and the same second, "you've got this casting thing pretty well mastered too; you always game-fish?"

"Always", Reuben nodded before giving a yawn and a stretch, "you best take over for a bit, I need a sit-down. Odd that, I'm always tired these days no matter how late I get up in the morning; soon get to the point where I need to start getting my head down for an hour or two in the afternoon".

"Best thing for it", as he reclined on the rough square of cloth that he brought with him on every fishing trip, the armadillo saw the back of Big's head give a nod, "dad gets like that sometimes, especially if he's had a rough week at work. He just dozes off in his armchair sometimes, usually while mum and the girls are watching the weepy on TV". Reuben chuckled,

"Best thing for all concerned far as I can see; can't stand films like that myself. Of course, Peg loves them", he added with a shudder; _and how many have I been forced to sit through as a result of that? Far too many more than's actually healthy for me I'm sure_; "just close your eyes and let it all just drift over you; it's much easier that way believe me".

"I would, especially if I had a TV myself", winding up the last few feet or so of the spare line as he was, the cat was pre-occupied enough to miss looking over his shoulder and see Reuben struggle with the concept of not owning some kind of television in this day and age, "can't really stand the thing myself – nice in small doses but beyond that, nah, just kills your mind in the long run, rather curl up with a good book".

"Now with that I do agree", fortunately for his scattered wits Big's last point had been one the armadillo could easily affiliate with, "much rather read a book in the long run; if nothing else they've made all sorts of leaps and bounds but I've yet to meet the boffin who's come up with a television you can carry with you when you're out on the lakes all day. Especially one that's safe to use; electricity and water don't mix".

"'Ware behind", the cat looked over his shoulder just on the off-chance the older Mobian was in the line of fire; _nah, didn't think he would be_; but Reuben was an old enough salt to know how to get himself out the way of a spay-casting.

Satisfied everyone was safe, the cat brought the rod up sharply, whipping it back and forth like a whippy birch stick, letting the reel go entirely and hearing its low, continual whine as it played out line to the building momentum of the cast. Finally, just as the tipping point was about reached, where any more line played out would have been enough to overcome the momentum Big was generating and therefore cause the whole thing to collapse in a head of tangled wire and fly, the cat let fly with a final, massive swing forwards, the entirety of the line he'd pulled free of the reel up to now arcing forwards over the water, the hook embedded in the false water-fly glinted in the sunlight for a second before it landed on top of the water, sinking beneath it a second later as it broke the surface tension of the liquid and was submerged. _Nice, and just as well too_; though Big knew he could cast as well as anyone else on his day, he was more accomplished at float-fishing than fly-fishing and as a result wasn't as well practised at spay-casting as he'd have like to have been – of course he'd heard the old fisherman's tales of people accidentally casting themselves into the water as their fly had sunk into the back of their jacket or fur during the build-up to the cast and discounted them as nonsense, but at the same time a small voice in the back of his mind kept pointing out that, though unlikely, such an occurrence wasn't beyond the realms of possibility and, should he be unfortunate enough to suffer such a calamity here and now, the splash would be such that he'd have staked his house on Reuben and Peggy going hungry on Christmas Day; every fish in the loch would have heard it and gone diving for deep water as cover.

"I say again, a fine arm you've got Big", his eyes on the water again the cat didn't answer beyond a nod, "and you say you usually fish for course? I must remember my floats next year in that case". The cat chuckled,

"No bother, I'll bring my own as you've been kind enough to loan me yours this year. But apart from that, yes I am a course man myself but, then again, where I live and fish is pretty overgrown, loads of trees and shrubs around; about the only thing you'd catch if you tried spay-casting at Mystic Ruins would be leaves and a cold. Oh, and just out of interest, what you said earlier isn't strictly true".

"What?" Reuben reclined onto his elbows, looking up into the clear blue sky above him as the world passed him by for a brief moment, ticking through the catalogue of what he'd said earlier to see if he could realise anything that had been obviously wrong, "what bit was that then?"

"Water and electricity", Big said as he began to raise the rod-tip, a few drips splashing back into the waters of the loch as he raised the fly to dry land once more, "pure water doesn't conduct electricity very well at all, it's the stuff that's dissolved in normal tap water that lets the electricity flow through it; water on its own's actually quite resistant. Just as well really; if it was a good conductor they'd be no fish left in Mystic Ruins after every thunderstorm the rolled overhead the amount of lightning we usually get".

As he'd expected there was silence at this but Big was content to ride it out; he didn't like to come across as brainy in any way; in actual fact knowing things he'd discovered himself wasn't his speciality insofar as recalling facts told to him by other people was definitely his strength. However from what he'd seen so far Reuben looked to be easy-going enough to appreciate a new titbit of information every so often and, judging by the response his comment drew, he hadn't been too far wrong in his estimation this time around,

"I suppose so; yes that does make sense now I think about it, rain water is fresh water when it comes down isn't it? Very good, very interesting – any luck?"

"Nah, nothing's biting at the minute", the cat replied, a little glum by his lack of bites so far, "just give it time though, something'll turn up I'm sure".

"I sure hope so", Reuben replied with a chuckle, picturing as he did every year the look that would have crossed his dearly-beloved wife's face had he come back to Steppes empty-handed, "you think Peg's scary enough now, you just wait until she's missed a meal or two". From his sitting position the armadillo saw the large cat's shoulder shake, a distinct quaver in his voice as he answered stutteringly,

"Well then, for your sake we'd best land something 'fore night fall – I've not seen Peg in a bad mood but if she's anything like Mighty I sure don't want her to be angry at me".

"Big", something in the older Mobian's tone, rather than just his words, finally broke the cat's eye contact with the lure; he looked over his shoulder as the armadillo finished with an air of wistful remembrance about him, "my niece wouldn't get angry at you, I don't honestly think any of us could barring one obvious exception"; _why do I think you've got the same guy in your head as I have?_; just from the way Reuben's entire body language changed it was obvious had lodged in his mind as he growled the last three words before, with an effort, lightening his tone and carrying on, "you've done nothing but behave like a perfect guest, a perfect gentleMobian and, most important this is, acting like you".

Big said nothing for a moment, rolling the last sentence over in his head and breaking it down to its components of praise, admiration and moderate affection; _acted like me – of course I have, not like I…aha, say that, sounds good_;

"Not like I can act like anyone else though; there's only enough room for one of me in my fur".

"Good, and you'd be surprised how rare that actually is these days Big; everyone seems to either want to be something they're not or they're pretending to be someone they're not, especially where I come from, but you just don't seem to be like that at all. You're just, well, for want of a better word and sorry if it sounds rude at all, you're just completely different to everyone else I've ever seen here". Big shrugged even as he made ready to cast again, having remembered exactly the number of turns on the reel it would have taken to bring the fly clear of the water,

"Don't apologise, I get that all the time, and the fact of the matter is I just am different, always have been and probably always will be. Though I have to admit", even as the line swished forwards and back in the air around his ears he made ready to cast Big was able to smile, not even looking at where he was aiming the line as he knew from experience how to hold the rod to make sure it went where he wanted it to go, "I reckon Mighty's trying to normalise me to a certain degree; how successful she's being's another matter though". With that he released the line above him towards the centre of the loch once more, the fly deployed again to provide a tasty dish to any roving trout or even salmon in the area looking for a fast bite on their way to their breeding grounds or the open sea; _though, why's he looking so pensive now?_;

"Mayhap she is Big", Reuben said, looking thoughtful as he slowly teased his next words from his line of thinking, "but then again she can't ever claim to be one of the mainstream herself; no fault of her own, don't get me wrong, but fact is she's had to be even more careful than the rest of us from an early age. It's the same with all of them, from her to my grandma, God rest her soul, and now to that little nuisance Pockets and Lianne brought into the world; none of them could ever fit into the normal mould, they'd break out of it – the angels just made them too strong, and I reckon they might have done something similar with you".

"What makes you say that?" _As if I didn't know?_; despite outward appearances Big was smart enough to know the impression he usually gave people and as consternation flickered across Reuben's face like a cloud, he was willing to bet that it had reared its head once more,

"I'll be honest Big, I know as much as the rest of the family does about you, which isn't much I'm the first to admit. Thing is you're the first Mobian I, in fact that any of us have seen looking like you could tackle Mighty that's not an armadillo in the same genetic boat she is. I also know where you live, the general area at least, and how you live and you're right, that's not what you'd call run-of-the-mill; I'm not prying and I don't want to know any more than what you're happy with me knowing, but I reckon the reason you're where you are now is the same reason Roddy refuses to kick the snow around with the rest of us every Christmas, and why as far as I'm concerned all that happened to me between nineteen-forty-three and forty-five is not to be talked about".

For a moment Big said nothing, the armadillo hadn't expected him to; _but I was honest, and I left plenty of get-out loopholes if he wanted to use them_; still, those truths didn't quite quiet the burning feeling of guilt that sloshed around wetly in his stomach as he saw the cat sag a little – after all, he more than most knew how important it was that some aspects of the past stayed buried forever, no matter how much others might have wanted them uprooted.

"You don't know how right you are Reuben", Big's voice was so soft that he almost missed his answer entirely, "especially in my case. Some bad memories just can't be faced up to, you have to replace them, cover them up with something, like you've done with your wife and your fishing and I'm doing with your niece and…" Reuben almost tumbled backwards shocked as suddenly the cat ripped his arms back; for a lunatic second the armadillo was sure he'd just snapped the rod clean in half but, a second later and hearing the characteristic splashing and grunting noises of a battle in full flight, he forced himself to his feet, ignoring the squeaking of his old bones as Big finished,

"…the thrill of landing the next big one. Get the keep ready, this one feels a mite hefty!"

XXX

Noticing the time with a downward roll of his eyes towards the watch glistening on his left wrist, Reuben made a last few mental calculations and quickly whipped the reel in all the way, shaking his head as he did so,

"Ach, pity; that was a good cast to waste", he sighed with a shake of his head before looking slightly more sprightly and standing up tall, "still, no point crying over spilt milk, not when there's something sweeter than just milk at the end of the road for us". The reference to the word 'us' made Big look up,

"Huh?" Reuben smiled and set his rod down, the weight of his wallet in his jacket pocket comforting as he stood to his full height and stretched, looking back the way he had come from his favourite fishing spot,

"Bit of a nip coming in the air, need something to keep out the cold, especially at my age; 'course I don't expect you youngsters to understand", the armadillo remarked as though this explained everything; Big could only look nonplussed and rub one of his ears before the rest of the sentence came, "but believe me, when you get to a certain age, there's nothing to beat the sound and the smell of a fire lit in the grate, feeling old wood under your elbows and the taste of hops spilling over your lips – umm". Something like a memory of summer flashed over his face, Big having to hold in a determined smile as the older Mobian appeared lost in thought for a moment before shaking himself back to wakefulness and looking across at his fishing partner,

"Interested in joining me for a quick schnifter? The Otter's only ten minutes away if that". _Nice of him to offer the invite_; Big considered for a moment, weighing up how well the fishing had improved over the course of the morning and working out the chances of landing something comparable with the beast now lurking in the depths of Reuben's keep-net; _but, on the whole can't take you up on it, not after I promised Mighty as well_.

"Nah, sorry; promised Might I'd be back before midday and have lunch with her. You've seen how well they're biting now, don't want to run the risk of losing a shot at something big, and I don't drink really, not outside of proper holidays at all". Reuben mulled over the argument for a minute before making his offer one last time,

"Sure I can't tempt you?" The cat shook his head, moving towards the armadillo and casting his eyes down towards where the rod lay quiescent where it had been set down by its owner.

"'Fraid not, just not my thing at the minute; still a bit too young to give up a spot of fishing for looking at them through the bottom of a beer glass".

"I guess not", Reuben replied; _somehow I wasn't expecting you to take me up on that one_; "if you get anything meatier than the sprat down there swap the two over if you wouldn't mind; catch-and-release man through and through I am, only ever taken one back with me each year; Peg's had me on a diet since the fifties". The cat chuckled even as he hefted the rod and clicked the reel arm down to the cast position,

"And she's doing a fine job from what I can see; anyway, I'll wait here until you get back then I'd better make a move myself; don't know the time exactly but I'd reckon it's getting on for twelve". After checking, Reuben raised an eyebrow,

"Good guess; about twenty-too. Right, well I won't be long, might bring you something back if I remember in time. Just lucky the loch drained back enough to give me back my favourite spot", the armadillo remarked as he rooted around on the blanket for his keys, "otherwise we'd have been looking at a thirty minute walk each way and you'd have been late".

"Mighty said you had about three places around here you fished from", Big recalled effortlessly, another fact from that day reaching his mind a fraction of a second later, "and two of them were underwater the first time we came".

"They were, but I know this loch like the back of my hand and it was draining quick, won't fill back up until the spring thaw", checking he'd got everything, the armadillo stood up and faced his fishing partner for the last time, "right, that's it all. I'll, ah, I'll be back in about thirty, forty minutes then you can get off, sound fair?"

"Perfectly", the cat agreed, waving as the armadillo made to depart, "take as long as you need; Mighty's never been a stickler for time in any way, just as well as half the time she doesn't know it at all".

"Sounds like the niece I know; right, Tam, get the ale ready and turf whoever's on my favourite chair out of it, I want a sit down, a plate of chips and a pint of homebrew". Big glanced over his shoulder as, finally ready, Reuben made his way towards where the track back towards the Green Otter and, beyond that, the Highland Steppes, was located with a steady, determined gait, not overly concerned with haste as, much like Big himself did, he had all the time in the world. The cat watched him go, his large ears picking out a few bars of a whistled melody in the distance; they grew gradually quieter, softer as distance increased until, finally, there was silence in this corner of Scotland.

XXX

_He's a nice guy, mind you, they're all nice guys_; Big redressed his first thought with a more general truth as he recalled each and every member of his girlfriend's family he'd met up to now; _I know this isn't quite all of them, at least one of her uncles couldn't make it this year and a couple of others missed out on the party. Still, if they're anything like cut from the same cloth as this lot_; he left that thought on hold for a second as he let fly with his line, checking just long enough to see the fly was heading where he wanted it to go before boarding his chain of thought once more; _no problems there as far as I can tell, and good. Mind you_; Big flattened his ears despondently, though there was a hint of a grin on his whiskered face as he realised that, Mighty having been brave enough to expose her family in all its glory all at once, he was going to have to do the same at some point; _oh and isn't that just going to go down like a lead parachute – mums' side's mostly okay but some of dad's…Grandma Dot's going to have a field day. Hello…_

One of his ears flickered, the silence silent no longer; from behind him came the regular tread of a pair of feet, walking back to the fishing blanket they had recently vacated. The cat masked a smile as he recognised someone struck down by the curse he had never been afflicted with,

"Oh Reuben", his voice was just a touch sing-song – the last thing he wanted to do now was alienate someone who'd been kind enough to give him this opportunity at a type of fishing he didn't usually partake in by jibing at a lapse in memory, "I've heard of a swift half before now but that's really going some; let me guess, the pick-me-up's been put off until you find whatever it is you've forgotten to pick up?" There was a brief quiet from behind him, the cat realising that Reuben must have made it back to the blanket; _probably thinking of something to say_…;

"I do not do pick-me-up's, master cat", Big's hand tightened on the rod and reel so hard he pulled in a yard of line without realising it, the cold voice that had answered him definitely not belonging to his girlfriend's great-uncle, "much like yourself, I don't drink".

XXX

Just for once the metronome routine of his idiot in-law had been a blessing rather than a curse; it had been a simple case of waiting on the side of the road away from the run down sink-hole he swilled his ale in until the drunken old sot came past, not even noticing in his need to slake his thirst for hard drink. He'd be occupied for at least fifteen minutes, probably more than that even; long enough for him to have a little private conversation with the Mobian who'd thus far violated his hospitality with his incessant attitude problem, his car with his uncontrollable, garish hair and his daughter's lips with his own. As Big turned to look over his shoulder, lifting Reuben's rod up and out of the water as he hastily rewound the played-out line back onto the reel, Stefan tapped his finger tips together in front of him and, after a minute of thinking how best to phrase his next words, spoke while the cat stood motionless,

"I will admit this much"; _wasn't quite expecting that_; judging by the way the armadillo had to virtually growl the words out of himself Big was cautiously optimistic that what was coming next wasn't going to be immediately depressing; _not yet, at least_; "despite your outward appearances and basic lack of decency around the rest of my extended family, you've come as something like a pleasant surprise compared to some of the other flotsam Michelle has brought back".

"I'm honoured", unlike Stefan's grudging grate, Big made his tone light and airy, just about respectful enough to ensure the armadillo wouldn't be able to confirm his lurking suspicion that the cat really didn't care a toss about what he thought, "anything else; would you like to have a go? I'm sure you'd be able to get a better distance on your casts than I can, knowing how strong you are and all". As he'd expected the comment tweaked Stefan's temper; _thought as much – he doesn't like being reminded of the fact he's so strong. Why though?_; before he could give any contemplation to the idea however, the cat had his answer sneered back to him,

"No; there appears to be no need", Stefan's narrow eyes flicked coldly to the open mouth of the keep-net, the ripples spreading out from around it showing the sole occupant was still _in situ_, "you have caught what you need to, why try to catch any more? And I was under the impression that keep-nets were considered unsporting for game fishing – something else I must be mistaken in of course?" _Give me strength_; Big let nothing onto his face as inside he pleaded for help to get through his grilling from the one armadillo in Mighty's family he'd found a real cause to cross swords with,

"Firstly, we're fishing more because there's not all that much meat on him and I reckon there's other, bigger fish in this loch", Big replied patiently, only hoping his irritation wasn't seeping into his tone – in actual fact the trout Reuben had managed to hook and land was a bit of a monster but the cat reckoned Stefan wasn't to know that and, even if he suspected, not even he would be pedantic enough to demand an inspection of the damned thing, "and secondly, you're absolutely right, keep-netting isn't usual when you're fishing for game. But considering the alternative is whacking him on the head now and leaving him to dry out on the bank until we go home, I'd say it was a fair exchange, wouldn't you?" The armadillo's eyes glimmered for a second, though before Big could deduce to what end he'd settled his weight onto his back foot and spoke once more, his tone colder than before,

"Be that as it may or may not be I did not come here to discuss the merits of an old, barbaric blood-sport"; _the things I could tell you_; he'd seen Stefan eat fish on more than one occasion since he'd been here at the Steppes – if the armadillo actually knew the industrial practices that had happened to the fish he'd eaten between it being hauled out of the water and it arriving on his dinner plate Big would have bet money he'd have been the last Mobian on the planet to call game-fishing a blood-sport, "I came here to have my questions answered and…"

"Then say them", Big's voice steamrollered that of his antagonist, cutting him off for the first time since the two had been introduced, "and if I wish to answer them I will".

The sight of the armadillo's jaw dropping was one he could cherish forever as he turned his attention over the water again, the Mobian behind him given the cold shoulder as he gazed over the loch for any sign of the trout that he and Reuben had been hunting most of the morning. As he'd suspected Stefan was so used to having everyone hang on his words that someone actually standing up to him, choking off his speech with a dry comment and roll of the eyes was enough to throw him completely off track.

"I…ah, I see"; _thought so – flustered as Mighty is usually, though I doubt he's anything like as cute as she is when she's gasping for words_; to his credit though, the armadillo rapidly pulled himself together, "so, that being the case, you can answer me this master cat. You are, from what I have managed to gather, almost completely destitute yet own your own home; you have only the income from your apprenticeship to sustain yourself, yet you live comfortably as you are mostly self-sufficient; you live near a city yet rarely visit it and, this is the point I find most difficult to comprehend", Big glanced over his shoulder, the look in his eyes as piercing and cool as the concentrated, cold fire Stefan was trying to burn him with, "you're obviously not stupid, yet you live like a simpleton out of choice. You are a paradox master cat, but you seem to be happy within yourself and because of that I don't see where my daughter fits into your, shall we say, unique equation of life".

"Your daughter", Big spoke back slowly, not to put undue emphasis on his words but merely to make sure he'd strained all the ire from his tone before Stefan heard it; _because that's what he wants, he wants me angry_; "is an integral part of that 'equation' as you put it, and yes, I am all those things you mentioned and several more besides. Anyway, if you're about to ask what I think you're going to ask you're asking the wrong Mobian".

"What?" Big gave a gruff, humourless laugh,

"You were about to ask me, though actually you were asking yourself more, why Michelle chose me as a partner", despite the many reservations he had about Stefan as a Mobian, the cat couldn't deny that he was a being a fair father in this – he did seem to want the best for his daughter in this regard at least, "and I'm telling you now I'm the last person who'd know. I don't have much of anything; she's better off than I am in most regards in fact, but still she thinks enough of me to trek down and see me whenever she can, and even invites me here; why that is", the cat shrugged, his last words true even if he thought he could have a good guess, "I have no idea – you'd have to ask her".

In the aftermath of that revelation came a black, billowing silence; the atmosphere around the loch seemed to freeze solid in anticipation, the wait making Big's whiskers and fur quiver as he could almost feel Stefan, still behind him, try to absorb what he'd just said. For a lurid second he dared hope the grey-shelled Mobian was just going to turn around and walk away but, unfortunately, even as the thought crossed his mind he heard a grim titter from behind him and closed his eyes; _how in the name of all possible sanity could anyone find this funny?_;

"And there master cat, you show the folly of second-guessing people", even s Big tried to understand what he'd meant Stefan laid all his cards on the table, "I'm not interested in what my daughter sees in you – I'm just at a loss to understand why you seem to need her so much. You have everything you need without her; if anything, from where I'm standing at least, you have enough money and ambition to prosper alone, she's redundant; her importance to your future is…"

For the second time in almost as many minutes Big found himself cutting Stefan off in full flow, though this time it was in a manner more satisfying than he had previously; having memorised where and how the armadillo was stood from his earlier glance, when the cat dropped the rod he was holding and spun around, and the armadillo had no chance to block or dodge him.

With a snarling roar, Big lashed out once with his fist; he struck hard, he struck fast and, such was the power and the precision with which his knuckles crashed home, he did not need to strike a second time.

XXX

It had felt good when he'd let his punch fly and, as Stefan's eyes bulged and the air rushed out of his compressed lungs with a croaking hiss, the cat knew he'd nailed it dead on; having memorised the way his adversary had been stood laxly at ease, Big had been able to plot his attack easily in his mind's eye. The fore knuckle of his middle finger, itself the size of a small golf ball, hammered home into the very heart of the armadillo's solar plexus – as he'd expected, Stefan's guard had shot up to protect his face against his larger opponent and as such Big's lower blow had swept right under his arms. The grey-shell slumped forward, almost folding himself around the cat's massive paw before, with a grunt of effort, Big dug his feet into the banks of the loch and heaved up and backwards – all his air driven from his lungs, Stefan couldn't even yell as he was flung bodily away, landing in a flailing heap some seven or eight feet from where he'd been originally stood. The clear blue sky above him blurred and flew past dizzyingly, a low pounding sound in his ears as his heart laboured to keep up with the punishment he'd taken – with another low crumping noise, even that frantic beat was overridden by another lower, louder tempo. Just about able to roll his eyes down, Stefan could do nothing as he was cast into shadow; Big loomed large over his, blotting out the sun and terrifying in his cold, calculating fury,

"You listen to me now Stefan", the cat's growl filled his ears, everything else reduced to silence as the dread tone washed over him, "you have, and will continue to I'm sure, insulted myself, my family and my ambitions – this I'm not to fussed about, you're not the only one who thinks I'm strange. But", Big's eye seemed to glow with a hellish intensity; with a glimpse of insight Stefan realised how hard the cat was having to fight to restrain himself from inflicting further damage, from using one of his elephantine feet to crush him further into the turf shell-first, "you do not, in fact you won't ever insult your own daughter anywhere where I can hear you. Mighty, her name, the one she prefers to be called, is everything to me and I have fought, and beaten, far more dangerous things than you keep her that dear to me, do you understand?"

"I…", the prostrate armadillo struggled to concentrate enough to find the words even if the pain in his abdomen and chest was less immediate now, an aching throb rather than a knife-thrust agony, "I…"

"I said", even now Big's tone was a low growl, far more controlled and far more frightening than any shout or scream could have been as he leant forwards over Stefan, his shadow cast over the armadillo, "do you understand?"

Even with memories of Metal Sonic as fresh in his mind now as they had been at the time of inscription, the old scars on his hand pulsing with mnemonic pain where the robot's claws had nearly flayed it bare of flesh, he kept the ancient instincts of his species in check; Stefan was a fool, a snob and self-absorbed to the point of narcissism, but none of those were excuses enough to warrant unleashing that sort of violence; _and, even beyond that_; once more he looked upon Mighty's face, seeing her fighting her own battles in her mind as her expression was torn by ambivalence; _he's still her father – I can't hurt him because, if I did, it'd probably destroy her too. Oh, Stefan_; movement by his feet dragged the cat's attention from his internal debate; slowly and painfully, the grey-shell picked himself up and, after a second of catching his breath, stood up and stretched as much as he was able to, his cold eyes never leaving the cat even if, just this time, Big was almost sure he could see something like respect glittering in them this time,

"I see", the armadillo coughed before continuing, "I can not change your mind, nor hers; that choice, regrettably, is yours. My apologies Big, and my thanks", the cat cocked his head as Stefan inclined his minutely; before he could formulate the question, however, the armadillo had turned on his heel and was shuffling back the way he must have come, the slow awkwardness of his gait showing the punishment he'd just taken at the cat's hands. Not moving, the cat watched him leave with a mix of questions and emotions rolling over and over in his mind; even when the armadillo was gone he couldn't decide what was the right thing to be feeling, the only constant question in his mind was one he'd never encountered before and thus, could have no memory about the answer to; _what was all that about? And he called me Big, why? I just don't get it…_

XXX

With a last cheery wave, quite an accomplishment for someone carrying a pair of glasses as he was, Reuben said a temporary farewell to the man behind the bar as he opened the door with a free finger; it wasn't unusual for him to take a glassful back to the loch with him after his short midday break but, as he'd explained to Tam and the other regulars, this time he needed a double because he had someone with him who needed to keep out the bitter chill on the air. The same chill that slapped him hard in the face the second he stepped outside – even with his old winter coat on he still shivered a little; _not quite as much padding down there as I used to have – either that or not enough to drink_; but tempted as he was to take another mouthful to lock out the bite of winter, he restrained himself; _enough for a final toast with Big before he had to get back. Well_; actually there he corrected himself; _a last toast before tomorrow I should say – plenty more cheer around the Yule fire I should…what in holy God's name…_

Close as he'd come in the past, and much as it was ridiculed by most of his family, the old boast Reuben made about never spilling a pint in his life was nevertheless true. However the shock of seeing Stefan slouching his way across the road, back-tracking down the path he himself had recently taken, brought him about as close as he'd ever come; not even registering as some of the beer's foamy head tipped over the edge of its containers and began to seep into his gloves, the older armadillo blinked to make sure what he was seeing was actually real before finally accepting that yes, he really was seeing his most hated relative walking down the road he usually avoided like the plague, and then quickly realised the most likely reason why he was there in the first place. Sudden anger spiked at him and before he could contain himself, Reuben bellowed out his challenge,

"Hoi, Stefan", the other armadillo stopped, looking around in that slow, deliberate manner he always affected, the one that really irked everyone else, "where you been to?" There was a short pause; _there's always a short pause_; before the grey-shelled deigned to answer,

"Taking a walk, and as I've been doing the same thing every day for the past twenty or so years, I'd have assumed even you would have been used to it by now".

"Taking a walk eh?" Reuben snorted, "too bad you can't bring yourself to go one further and make all of us happy by taking a hike. Have you been down to…?" The grey-shell's eyes narrowed dangerously,

"That is not your concern; good day"; _no, it is not a good day_; though he was careful to keep his reaction believable by turning away with a disgusted shake of his head, Reuben's mind was already racing; _I lost a damn fine niece to you, I'm not going to lose Mighty as well…though, wait a minute…_; his train of thought picked up speed, careening dangerously forwards until at last it smashed into and through the buffers separating it for a workable idea; _I shouldn't be the one telling you that…_

He waited just until he was sure Stefan's retreating shell was out of eye and earshot, then hurriedly placed both pints on a convenient flat rock; slapping his pockets, he quickly located what he was after before pausing for a brief second, feeling the irony of the situation kick him in the face. _It was you who always said I should move with the times Stefan_; despite the grim circumstances the older armadillo managed to smile at the implementation of the scenario; _and just this once, because of that, this new-fangled technology's what's going to put you back in your place. Come on darling_; with a last click he finished what he'd begun, mentally preparing himself for the speech he had to give; _don't let your old uncle down now!_

XXX

Perched as she was on the ladder, Emily knew her glance at the floor was a bad idea at the time and now, a split-second after the event itself, was convinced it had been so – clinging desperately to her precarious perch, the normally suave and collected businessMobian crunched her eyes as tightly shut as she could make them and tried to remember an old nursery rhyme, a small passage of one of the plays she liked to read, anything she could recall and run through her mind over and over to calm her frenzied stab of panic.

"Hey, mum"; _…little lamb, little lamb…_; just about able to pluck her courage back up, Emily opened her eyes, wetted her lips and made to answer as her daughter finished her question, "get a shift on up there, got over half this hallway to do yet".

"There's, uh, there's plenty of time yet Mighty", she called back, less of a quaver in her voice than she'd been afraid of as once more she found herself asking the question that recurred in her mind this time every year; _why do I always offer to do the top, why – I don't like heights, I've never liked them and this old ladder_; she didn't dare cast her eyes down at that; seeing the state of the rickety old wooden contraption that her daughter was balancing for her would have shredded her already rattling nerves completely, "I'm just thinking, you've got to be careful when planning something like this". Mighty gave a snort, her mother just about holding in a squeak of discomfort as the movement reverberated up to her,

"Oh come on, it's not like this is one of those banners those gophers under you keep banging out. Just stick the tinsel and holly where it looks okay and go from there; if anything's out of place we'll sort it out on the way back".

"Like hell we will", the mere thought of going up this ladder any more than often was completely necessary was completely anathema to Emily's thoughts for the rest of the day, "we get it right first time; in business it's cheaper that way. Now, get a tight grip on that ladder bottom you, I'm not putting up with a trip to the local general this time of year got it?"

"Okay, okay, just get stick those stars on the roof and let's move on"; not even daring to glance down and see how well Mighty was following her orders in supporting the ladder, Emily took a deep breath and formed a silent plea in her mind that should the unthinkable happen and she plummet to the ground below, the good Lord would cushion her fall before reaching down and locating what she needed with the tips of her trembling fingers. Carefully placing a few tacks between her lips for later use, the elder armadillo pulled up a decorative Christmas star the size of her hand, this particular specimen glinting in deep, burnished red and gold in the light from the window to the side of her, gradually convinced her frightened body to relinquish its hold on the top rung of the ladder for a brief moment before reaching up towards the ceiling, hoping to pin the latest decoration in place with minimum fuss and maximum expediency.

At that moment, the high-pitched trilling of a mobile phone rattled into the air.

Star and tacks both fell to the floor as the sudden discord snapped Emily's already overstretched tolerance for unease; her hands whipped down and seized the top rung of the ladder again, knuckles whitening as the entire corridor seemed to pitch and lurch alarmingly, wobbles from the base of the ladder as Mighty fiddled in her pockets with a free hand magnified a thousand-fold from where she was stood. _Stay still_; her brain thought and she obeyed – anything that would get her out of this predicament was to be adhered to without a second thought; _keep perfectly still – Mighty won't let you drop_;

"What?" A single word floated up from the ground, a hard, dangerous question as, finally, Emily managed to recollect enough of her scattered cool to prize one of her hands loose and begin descending the rungs of the ladder itself. Just as she was about at the halfway point, her confidence swelling in size with each step down she took, she heard her daughter's voice again, the words clipped and coldly clear,

"Right. Thanks". There was another clipping noise, the younger armadillo snapping her appliance shut before looking up just as her mother looked down; as relief met sudden bright, burning resolve at high speed neither prevailed for a minute before, completely by accident, both acted as one – even before Mighty made her request, Emily was in motion,

"Mum, get down quick; good", her solitary word of praise as her mother swept off the ladder with a dainty hopping motion was quickly drowned in desperate explanation, "I've gotta go".

"Go?" Back on solid ground Emily's mind quickly sharpened itself back to its normal fine point, "what for, where?"

"To the lake", already her daughter had swung the ladder around one-handed and rested it against the wall, her jade eyes hard and clear crystals, condensed with anger, "got to do something I should have done years ago". With a soft sigh her mother's eyes closed; _thought he'd been gone longer than usual_;

"Is this something to do with your father?"

"Everything; I'm sorry mum", for a second repentance became apparent in the younger armadillo's eyes before they hardened once more and her head turned, fixing on its way towards the entrance of the Steppes, "but this is something I've got to set right now. I'll be back as soon as I can". Unable to say anything to deter her daughter's course of action, Emily merely nodded; though she never admitted it, she was grateful that Mighty said nothing else before taking off, heading towards a showdown her mother had always known would one day occur but had never looked forwards to. Watching Mighty's retreating back until she turned the corner and was lost for her sight, Emily felt her stomach churn with worry for her daughter and her husband in equal measure; _it would have to come to this. Mighty won't be bound by his idea of manners any more and he's never let anything go in his life up to now._ For a second she shook her head before heaving another sigh, putting both her squabbling immediate family from her mind and letting them sort out their differences on their own for once before thinking about how she could collar someone else to help with her part in the festive decoration of the hotel that was her family's ancestral ground; _just as long as they leave enough of each other in one piece for Christmas day, it'll be enough to be getting on with._

XXX

The atmosphere had changed, Reuben knew it almost as soon as he'd started back-tracking his way towards his favourite fishing spot, grateful that the loch had emptied enough to reveal it over the past few days; somehow it seemed colder than it had been, more alien, oppressive, and Reuben knew exactly why that was. _That son of a bitch_; even occupied with holding a pint perfectly steady in his off-hand, the fisherMobian knew the route so well he barely had to look at the path before him as he focused his energies on cursing his most hated kin; _not enough for him to be as miserable as sin all the time, he has to make sure no-one else is ever happy as well. Even his own daughter and her partner_; Reuben was no-one's fool – he knew why Stefan had come this way, the reason before his trip; _he came to warn Big off his daughter, reckons he's not good enough for her or her 'goodly' parents – pah, he thinks that it just shows what an appalling judge of character he really is_. Such was the concentrated thought of his mental muttering that it was only when he actually saw the broad purple back of one of the parties wronged by Stefan that he actually realised where he was, and it was only more by luck than judgement that he managed to overcome his displaced thinking before, with a flick of one of his large ears, Big detected he had another visitor and glanced over his shoulder again,

"Oh hullo Reuben, welcome back", it might just have been the negativity that had recently swirled around in his head but the armadillo could have sworn he'd heard a faint trace of relief in Big's tone as he recognised him, "have a good brew at the Otter, and planning to carry on the good times I see?"

"Huh?" The armadillo had almost forgotten the pint he still carried, the cat's directed look about the only thing that reminded him of it at all, "oh, oh no, I've had enough, brought this back for you son; judging by who I've just spoken to your need is a lot greater than mine".

Just the merest ghost of Big's expression was enough to let Reuben know exactly what had transpired; _though, if anything the fact he's still here and Stefan isn't tells its own story_; though to his credit the cat was able to give himself a brief shake-down before replying. Stepping forwards and offering the armadillo his rod again, Big rolled his shoulders and gave a brief, self-depreciating smile,

"Ah, he's not that bad when you get used to him, long as that might actually take. Still, can't deny the fact I wouldn't say no", Reuben gave a wry smile, offering the glass in his hand as an exchange; a second later, it and the fishing rod had swapped owners, making the armadillo smile a little as he beheld Big cradling the proportionally tiny glass in his huge fist,

"Should have told Tam to wheel out a barrel for you mate; just drop the glass back into the pub on your way back, no-one'll mind from around here, they know you're with me. You'll be heading back soon anyway?" It was a question they both already knew the answer to,

"Yeah, best be getting back, told Mighty it'd be around about midday before I got there and it must be getting on for that now", looking slightly more cheerful than he had a moment ago, the cat held his head up high and made to head back towards the path, "I'll see you later on Reuben, good luck for the rest of the day". The older Mobian merely shrugged, slapping as high up Bigs' arm as he could reach as the cat walked past,

"I don't reckon I'll be needing any more today, that one down there should keep Peg and I fed for tomorrow – worst thing about getting old that is, you lose your appetite something chronic". The cat chuckled,

"Not something that's ever troubled me; thanks for the drink Reuben, I owe you a round later tonight", the armadillo nodded, mentally crossing that debt off his list as he watched the cat retreat; _after sticking up to Stefan, no matter how much or how little you might have had to give up to do it_; even as his practised hands began to make ready to cast his line out once more, the armadillo came to that conclusion and forced his lips into a wry smile; _call us even – I'm only sorry I wasn't here to see it unravel_.

For an instant Reuben was consumed with doubt; had he been right to let Mighty know that Stefan had been here? The old-fashioned mobile phone he'd become attached to over the past several years weighed in his pocket like a ball of lead before he patted it through the material and scrubbed the doubt from his mind; the dice were cast, it was too late for regrets now – for good or for ill, it was up to Mighty now how she reacted, though such logical thoughts and conclusions didn't stop Reuben from crossing his fingers over the line of his reel and hoping with all his heart that she'd be able to stand to choose between one and the other, or neither at all.

XXX

_Damn, he hits hard_; though true, Stefan's constitution was such that already the powerful blow Big had dealt him had faded to little more than a painful memory – he was more concerned with the state of his clothing than anything else at the minute. However, sore it might have been but he had one piece of the puzzle he'd set himself to solve now and, as he looked ahead and beat down a sudden rush of both apprehension and surprise, the grey-shell realised he could very quickly had the second answer he wanted. Still not hurrying or breaking stride unduly, Stefan moved forwards towards where he could see the form of his daughter waiting him, arms folded and volcanic glare never wavering from his shambling form. Slowly drawing level with her, Stefan brought his head up and made a greeting,

"Good afternoon Michelle, what brings…?"

"You", her blatant flaunting of the normal rules of manners was designed to antagonise him and, as she saw her father's face darken, Mighty realised it had done so, "where have you just come from dad?"

"That is not your concern", he answered brusquely, "I have been walking…" This time it was her snort of dismissive laughter that brought a halt to his explanations,

"Up by the loch by any chance? Now that's a bit odd", she settled her weight onto her back foot, cocking her head as though weighing something up in her mind, "because that's just where Big is this morning. Now I know you like the old crime novels dad – wouldn't you say that seems a bit more than just coincidence?" It was Stefan's turn to glower, both at her impudent tone and the way she was almost accusing him of something for which she had no reasonable proof,

"I would say nothing more Michelle", the warning in his tone was unmistakeable as he made to move off; it was also one his daughter simply didn't pay any attention to, "what I do is no concern of yours".

"Really? If that's so, I'd ask you to extend me the same courtesy now I'm an adult".

If any words had been guaranteed to bring her father to a screeching halt it had been those words; with a growl Stefan whipped around to bring them face to face again, the scowl besmirching his expression matched by his daughters cool, detached smile,

"What do you say?"

"I say", Mighty unfolded her arms and put them on her hips, feeling the tension in the air building and ready to react if anything went wrong, "that you keep the hell out of my private life from now on; I know where you've been and I can guess why you've been there; I'm not taking this anymore from you Stefan".

"You are my daughter; I helped bring you into this world", even now anger was absent from his speech, just a cold, concentrated logic that was able to burn much more frighteningly than any rage could ever have done, "you will do as I…"

"…Do", Mighty finished for him, throwing her arms up in disgust, "you are such a hypocrite you can't even see you are any more; demanding manners then never showing any, saying treat everyone with respect when you respect no-one else, least of all me. So I'll tell you this now and for free", she pointed at her father, a slow, threatening gesture as she smiled in a challenge, "you do not try anything with either me or Big from now on; we, actually I am and I'm pretty sure he will be soon, are past caring what your opinion on things is, do I make myself clear enough? Or do you need diagrams?"

Strictly speaking the last sentence wasn't necessary but as it was one of Espio's favourite sayings and he was absolutely guaranteed to get under her shell if he wanted to, Mighty reasoned it'd probably work on her father too. Her reasoning also appeared to be correct as her father growled low in his throat, shoulders squaring as his eyes narrowed before he visibly forced himself to relax a little, losing a hint of his truculence and grating out his next question,

"I see, but let me ask you something Michelle"; _I'm all ears_; she waited for his question, it was pointless to try and second-guess it, "why is that? Why is this cat so dear to you – from where I'm standing you have your own job, your own money and a share in your own property; you don't even live on the same continent as him. He's nothing you cannot match or better, even assuming he does finish this useless apprenticeship he's begun; you do not need him, so why keep him so close?"

As he had expected, she didn't answer; how could she answer? It was a perfect question, one her supposed love had probably blinded her to, the simple question of, out of the relationship, what did she stand to gain from it? Stefan could virtually see the worm of the truth of the matter beginning to gnaw its way through the layers of supposed affection to throw open the rotten core of the matter; his daughter's eyes seemed a little unfocussed, their attention turned inwards, tracing through the roots of…no, he tensed as she seemed to come back to herself a little, folding up her arms once more as her strangely suddenly empty, dull eyes came back to rest on his own, her lips speaking in a choked whisper,

"Have you ever seen death, dad? I have, and the only thing that stopped it taking me there and then was Big, not 'that cat' – I think I already told you what I think of that naming convention of yours".

Technically of course it hadn't been death she'd seen but as far as she was concerned Metal Sonic in a bad mood was probably the next best thing, especially when she'd been unable to defend herself against him any longer. Stefan didn't answer her query, instead running her words over in his mind and trying to make sense of them; _what, death…_; he never had a chance to retake that train of thought as his daughter carried on, a little more life now in the eyes that suddenly matched his for cold-hearted callousness,

"I've seen it, felt the fear that I was about to die", and she had, despite the fact the robot hedgehog had stated the fact that he could no longer kill; still, even now, she couldn't bring herself to relive that experience again – she could not put her mother through so much trauma and worry so instead opted to keep the illusion she and her boyfriend had constructed together as whole as she could manage, "someone with a knife, drunk as well, pointed at your neck; strength alone won't get you out of that as you know. It took someone else, someone with knives of their own, putting their life on the line to help me there – you know what Big was risking there, what might have happened if he had scratched the guy or worse? He'd have been looking at prison, at a criminal record, but he still stepped in and took a gamble on someone he didn't even know at the time, and you say he's useless?" Mighty's fists clenched and for almost the first time against his daughter Stefan felt himself take a step backwards, almost forced away from her by the hurt and anger radiating from her whole body language now,

"You dare to tell me my boyfriend is nothing? Well in that case, nothing has saved my life and I think I rather care quite a lot about nothing, in fact I think I could care for nothing quite a bit more than I care for you and your attitude. I'm my own Mobian now dad, I'm not your girl who you can control and treat how you want to any more; I have and will continue to associate with who I want to, do the jobs I want to do and, yes, even sleep with the people I choose to", the mere thought of that last clause in her statement made Stefan shudder but still he held his tongue, the answer he wanted becoming clearer all the time, "and you, because you're all the way over here, can not stop me; even if you were able to, I wouldn't let you. Understand?"

Almost out of breath and trembling with emotion Mighty fought to keep herself in check; angry she might have been but she would not raise her fists against her own family no matter how much they deserved it. She waited for hr father's response and, though it was a little longer in coming than she was used to due to even Stefan showing some surprise at her revelations, it still duly arrived,

"So I see", his voice seemed to have changed; for a second she was convinced it was full of lifted wonderment but before she could clarify such a thought it was back to its normal tone as Stefan inclined his head, "your choice of course; goodbye and I will see you later".

"Yeah", Mighty nodded, "you'll do that". Then, without a backward glance, she turned away and carried on the way she'd been going, towards the loch Stefan had recently left; this was perhaps a shame as, by turning her back on her father completely, she missed the change of his expression as he found the answer he'd been probing for all day. With a strangely knowing smile on his face and humming an almost merry tune, the grey-shell moved off again towards the Highland Steppes, the pain that had been hammering at his front stopped for good, for such pain had been worth it to know what he now knew.

XXX

With a relieved grunt, Big managed to just about slide out of the entrance way, the sign above his head squeaking gently as it swayed in the freshening breeze that ruffled his coat; _bit of a squeeze in there_. That was certainly true, a combination of tightly-packed tables and chairs and low-hanging beams in the ceiling making locomotion within the Green Otter itself difficult for him, but overall he supposed he'd gotten off okay – at least most of the locals had been open-minded enough to get up when he needed to shamble past their seats, and clear half the bar when he'd finally made it close enough to hand his glass back to the barman, actually Tam's son in his case as the older man was 'a'ay on urgent bit'o busness'. Stretching up with a large yawn, the cat shook himself down before running his hands over his face lightly, the memories of minutes ago making him shiver; maybe he should have had more self-control than that but, damn it, Stefan should have known better – Mighty was his daughter for Christ's sake, how could he even think about bad-mouthing her. _Something wrong in his head, shell must have gone soft up there_; flattening his ears against his scalp as the chill began to penetrate the thinner fur around them, Big made to head off towards the Highland Steppes once more; _there's absolutely nothing wrong with Mighty, redundant is simply the last thing she could ever…oh, hi Mighty…ever be – she's got so much going on for her at the…huh?_; one of the images he'd just seen sudden super-imposed itself over the canvas of his memory and brought him up short; stumbling to a halt, the cat blinked hard for a second before daring to look again; surely the armadillo he'd seen just up ahead on the path before him was a figment of his imagination,

"Mighty?" The ghost said nothing but merely nodded, a sad smile coming over its normally robust and cheerful expression; it was that movement that convinced the cat the apparition before him was spirit no longer but flesh and blood, picking up the pace, he was at her shoulder in seconds, "what…am I late?"

Those words broke her melancholy momentarily; _only you could think something like that Big, straight after what he's probably just come here and said_; unfortunately the memory of her father crushed all hope and happiness from her once more and, doing her best to put a smile on her face, she blinked up at him, hands in the pocket of her coat before they could freeze any more,

"No, you're not late", she assured him; _but I can't tell him the real reason I'm here…can I?_; it was a question she didn't know how to answer and quickly shoved it onto the back-burner for now, "I'm just, here…needed a walk, too much decorating was killing me".

"Decorating?" This was the first the cat had heard of it and, almost immediately, he leapt to a conclusion, "anything I can help with – you know I'm a dab hand with a paintbrush?" Again he made her laugh and for that Mighty was unspeakably grateful; with a choked snort and playful push, the armadillo mock-scowled up at him and by mutual consent they moved of together, back to the warmth of the hotel in the distance,

"Not that kind of decorating you numpty; Christmas decorating", the cat groaned, one hand covering his face despite the grin that was spreading underneath it; _of course, never even crossed my mind_; "gotta get the place looking the part for tomorrow haven't we, plus it'll help knacker the kids out".

"Why's that so important?" Even as the urge to make reparations, feeble as they might have been, roiled in her guts like a churning sea of barely-contained angst and strife, Mighty forced herself to answer his question first,

"So the rest of us can have an uninterrupted night tonight, got a lot of races to get through", she managed to say with an air of false bravado; however even as she saw the question germinating on Big's lips the winds of reality blew that air away and, unable to handle it any longer, her attempts at patching up the ground her father had trampled over so callously came spilling out, "I'm sorry".

_Sorry?_; this violent U-turn threw Big off-track completely; _what for – if anyone should be apologising it's me surely?_; but apparently Mighty didn't think that way, her words almost tumbling over each other in an effort to be heard and accepted by the cat at her side,

"I know, know Stefan was out here earlier, and I can guess what he said", never before had her antipathy with her father felt so poisonous, never before had she come closer to lashing out as she had, "I can't change that Big much as I'd love to, but please, believe me, if I'd even thought he'd come down here I'd have found some way to stop him. No-one deserves that, no-one, least of all you – he just doesn't know, he'll never know"; _oh yes he will_; oddly enough the cat had been thinking of a way to bring his abnormality into the light of the rest of Mighty's family and, going on what he'd heard so far, had come up with something like a coherent plan, though as of now it was most definitely on hold; he was too busy dealing with what Mighty was saying and, at the same time, feeling pretty rotten himself – after all, she might have guessed all she liked but she didn't know exactly what had transpired up by the loch itself, "he's just so bloody narrow-minded, nothing we do is ever going to break him out of it. If he doesn't like someone nothing will stop him making life miserable for them, and I don't think there's a friend I've ever brought home he actually liked. But it doesn't matter, not any more", for a second Mighty's eyes shone and Big's tiny reserve of courage drained away for a moment longer as she turned to him, breath hot in her throat and savage triumph in her mind, "I've already told him he's a hypocrite of the highest regard, and that I don't care what he thinks any more; as far as I'm concerned he can go stick his head in a bee hive and hum". Suddenly her gaze was on him and Big fought to stop himself seizing up; she obviously expected him to say something and, swallowing hard, he crossed his fingers and took a deep breath,

"Oh,, I'm, um, I'm glad to hear that", some of the triumph dropped from her gaze; that was what she hadn't expected to hear and Big had to suddenly press on, get this over with quickly for better or for worse, "so, you might not mind too much when, well, I er, I hit him, up at the loch", he gave a small, sheepish smile as Mighty's gaze morphed from driven to disbelieving, her mouth all but falling open as he finished with even a hint of gallow's humour in his tone, "sorry about that".

As far as Big was concerned, Mighty never looked more appealing than when she was running a little late, or couldn't quite find the words to say what she was feeling exactly; there was just something oddly endearing about seeing the Mobian who could, if she so chose, quite literally tear his house down around his ears being left glancing around the floor and smiling shyly by some little foible or other. However, if Mighty was never more attractive than when she was flustered then when she was completely dumb-founded she was never more comical; despite the grim circumstances the cat couldn't help but snicker as some of the blood that had drained from the armadillo's face suddenly rushed back in to fill it up again with a rush of colour,

"You", she was almost shaking with a mix of emotions so varied and turbid she had no chance of telling one from the other, "you, hit my dad?!"

"Not very hard"; _actually…_; despite the circumstances Big couldn't deny his natural honesty – with an awkward smile he corrected his first statement somewhat, "well, not as hard as I'd have liked to". Mighty finally managed to peel her hands away from her lips as sudden anger and remorse banished the shock from her gaze; with a groan of severe irritation she threw her arms in the air,

"Oh you fool, fancy doing a thing like that…"

"Hey, I was sticking up for you", Big didn't usually feel the need to fight his corner but this was one of those few exceptions, "if you knew what he'd been saying…"

"…I meant about you", the armadillo cut him off, gazing up directly into his face as thought almost seeing through it, wishing her eyes alone could peer through his memory banks and make a permanent withdrawal, "he's not worth it Big, least of all for you – if anyone here should be hitting him it aught to be me!"

"Well sorry but I got there first", the cat said with a huff, hands on his hips as he came to a dead stop, "and I'd do the same again, in fact if he says what he says again I will do the same no matter where we are or who else is there. Nobody speaks about you like that, saying you're no use to me; he was asking for it and I answered him – anyway, you know what the cure is", Mighty still couldn't speak, unable to see where he was going with this and, at the same time, trying to imagine where her father had been going the whole time; _he said I was useless to you, but you're useless to me…?_; "your dad's given me a bad memory, so", he looked at her squarely, a hint of a smile on his lips once more, "I expect you to make up for it, lots of good ones please – reckon you can do that?"

"I don't know", Mighty growled back a few seconds later – she just let the doubt flicker in Big's eyes for a moment before letting loose the grin that had been blossoming under her lips, imagining the scenario in her mind and unable to help herself smiling, "but I'll see what I can do. You wally", she stepped closer and swatted the cat's arm, not resisting as it swept around her shoulders and shell, Big half-lifting her off the floor with a half-growl, half-purr as she buried her head in the harsh hair of his winter coat, the rest of her speech muffled, "I know he can be a pain in the tail-bone but to get to you he must've been going overdrive – what was it like?"

"What was what like?"

"Giving him a half-decent whack upside the head", Mighty said as she finally began to disengage from the huge cat, heart singing out wonderful psalms of praise to the world in general as she realised that despite his best efforts Stefan had failed completely; _Big's not letting me go – good, because I don't ever want to leave him_; the ferocity of the thought caught her off-guard slightly but she thought for no longer than a split-second before accepting it as the truth, "I can guarantee there's not an armadillo in the family that hasn't dreamt of doing something like that at some stage; in one way I could say we were lucky it was you who gave him a hiding". _Thank the Lord for that_; Big felt the icy glove around his chest let him go once more, the fear leaving him as he realised Mighty didn't hold his outburst of rage against him at all; _she doesn't mind too much I hit him – just as well, if she had I'd have…_

It was a thought he never finished, one he never wanted to finish; instead he gave his attention back to where Mighty was stood by the side but slightly in front of him and found himself matching her smile even as he heaved a theatrical sigh,

"Let me guess"; _as if I hadn't already_; "I'll be able to treasure that memory for all time?"

"You bet, now tell me", suddenly it was the childish Mighty who appeared before him, eyes bright with anticipation as she almost burst in her desire for an answer, "was it worth it, and why'd it happen in the first place? If he threatened you or did anything like that I'll rip his shell off and break it between his ears". Reckoning she both could and would do both those things if he didn't choose his words carefully, Big sniggered a little before placing one of his paws atop her shell and rubbing hard, making her mock-squeal and back off, smoothing down a non-existing hairstyle and sticking her tongue out at him as he began,

"Well, much as I'd like that, you won't have to; it was pretty simple actually, Reuben had just popped off for his usually pint or half-dozen and I was left holding the fort on the bank…"

Time drifted on as it always did, unheeded and unhindered by those who existed within its stream and not missed by those who, like the couple now walking along a quiet, deserted one-track road at the foot of the highlands of Scotland just as a small snow-shower began to cover the earth in diamond dust, had stepped outside of its flow. The journey didn't matter to Big or Mighty, nor did the route; despite all that had been done to break them apart by megalomaniacal machines and mad machinations of other Mobians, nothing had succeeded and now, in times of peace and in each other's company, did they have the chance to reap the rewards of that endurance.

Secluded but in each other's company, both Mobians knew only contentment.

XXX

_Okay, glad that's over_; with a whistled breath that nothing had gone quite as horribly wrong as she thought it might, Emily gradually let her trembling hand descend back from where it had been driving a tack into the ceiling to the top rung of the ladder, reaffirming its grip their and letting little flows of courage dribble back into her reserves; _only one or two left to go_;

"Right, ready for the next one Jen?"

"Are you?" The sudden voice at the foot of the ladder promptly pulled the plug on any courage she may have had; with a squeak she redoubled the force of her grip on her safety bar as shock ate into her normally collected psyche – one thing was for certain though, that voice hadn't belonged to either her distantly-related cousin or, as she might have hoped, her daughter, returning from her self-appointed errand. Instead, a fact she only really believed when she dared take a glance down and a semi-circle of grey shone up pearly-white against the bleak stone of the floor, it actually belonged to the other party in the meeting Mighty had mentioned; _but, but how'd he…what's he doing here?_;

"Stefan?" As she knew he would her husband answered her in his usual, factual tone of voice,

"Yes? Are you ready to move on?"

"In a minute", Emily told him, still trying to work out two things simultaneously; where he'd been and how he'd been able to get back – to buy herself a little more time she asked another question, "where's Jen just out of interest?"

"I said I'd take over, she didn't seem to mind"; _I bet she didn't_; Emily's thoughts were sour even towards her husband as she knew from long experience than when he wanted something he usually didn't have to wait long or try hard to get it, "now, hold tight, how many more do we have to do?"

"Hold it", both not knowing what she wanted to know yet and certainly not ready to have him move the ladder, Emily stayed his hand for the minute, "'fore we do anything else, I know Michelle was looking for you earlier; did she find you? And where have you been all morning – I know you don't like putting up the tinsel and holly but there's no excuse not to make an effort Stefan". A grim chuckle echoed upwards towards her, the ladder reverberating slightly and forcing her to cling on ever tighter as her husband's mirth echoed through the wooden structure,

"I have had this year; I was up by the lake as a matter of fact, had a few things I needed to sort out". _The lake?_; Emily knew that was important but why – she frantically tried to answer her own question; _why though, he and Reuben just fight like ferrets in a sack, so…oh, now I know_; and she did, she knew she did – with a growl of frustration, Emily realised that today of all days, her fishing-mad uncle hadn't just had himself for company on the banks of loch Gellie,

"A few things, and one Mobian I shouldn't wonder", she stated with a bite of impatience in her tone; finally looking down as momentary anger overwhelmed her fear, Emily nailed her husband with a devastating look, "Stefan for God's sake she's old enough to make her own mind up now – she does not need you sticking your oar in, and neither does Big for that matter. Just leave the two of them alone; if they want to stay together they will, by trying anything you'll…"

"And now", he cut her off silkily, looking up as much as he was able to in answer to her; there was an expression in his eyes that made Emily pause – she couldn't recall the last time she'd seen him display such understanding before, least of all when their daughter had been concerned, "I know that. You don't approve Emily, you never have and neither, I think, has anyone else in your family, but believe when I say I think it's for the best what I do. Life has taught me one lesson if it's taught me any at all; if you really want something, the way I wanted and still want you", he smiled, a rare and surprisingly warm expression from him that as always brought the heat rising to his wife's face before he extinguished it once more, finishing what he needed to say, "you have to be prepared to fight for it".

Silence descended in the hallway for a moment, the words swirling through the empty air heedless of the other noises that lurked just on the edge of hearing as other armadillos joined with the owners of the Highland Steppes to get the place ready for the visit of the big man in red that evening. Stefan obvious felt he'd said all he needed to say at the same time Emily was digesting his words; to her distaste, once she thought about it, there was no denying he did have a point of sorts, and a valid one at that,

"So", she dared to speak eventually, if only to break the silence, "was he? Was Big prepared to…?"

"Oh yes", she couldn't see his face and that she wasn't too happy about; she couldn't tell his feelings from voice alone, "I'm not quite sure of our daughter's reasoning still, but if he ends up becoming our son-in-law I shouldn't find myself too surprised". _That _caught her off-guard; only her naturally tight grip stopped Emily falling off the ladder in shock, and before she could speak again he'd heaved a sigh and turned to face the foot of the ladder, both hands set on it,

"Still, that is the future; hold on", that she did; as he lifted both ladder and her at the top of it Emily's already strangling grasp tightened even further as she screwed her eyes shut, vertigo assailing her as her husband simply paced forwards a few steps, "and let us finish this little errand before we get back to enjoying the present".

A/N: Enjoy the present; something we'll hopefully all be doing inside the next two weeks! Much as this sounds like déjà vu now, next chapter should be the last one (no way am I having a story with thirteen chapters – bad luck all the way that number is!)


	14. Chapter 14 A Night at the Races

Chapter 14 – A Night at the Races

A/N: I know, I know – I should have split this into two chapters but, after I finished it, I just couldn't do it. I don't know why but ever since I came up with this completely off-the-wall pairing for some reason I just can't help but love it; it just sort of works out so well whenever I sit down to write about it. Anyway, apologies for lateness and all that but this time I have an excuse, in fact I have a quartet of excuses and, without further ado, here they are: Christmas, New Year, work being a complete pain in the (insert favourite expletive) and, most importantly, getting prepped for an interview coming up at the start of January. Still aside from all that, got to give a quick word to a reviewer who really deserves one:

Ri2 - Senseless violence; I would hope that if someone insultedthe woman in my life like that, I'd be ready to defend her like Big did! As for your other, later comments, this chapter should answer those questions of yours with any luck. Hope you enjoy this last chapter and look forwards to seeing you in the next fic!

They'd virtually made it back to the very doorway of the Highland Steppes, in fact Big had placed one of his huge boot-soles on the lowest step leading up to the front entrance of the Scottish hostel when a sudden noise at his back, a gasp of sudden remembrance followed by the low thunk of hand meeting forehead at high speed. Looking over his shoulder at the commotion, the cat wasn't all that surprised to see Mighty suddenly peel her palm from the ridge of her shell and send it delving into the depths of her pockets, fidgeting to find something at the same time as speak directly to him,

"Big, sorry I meant to mention this earlier but it slipped my mind", the cat laughed, a reaction that not half an hour before he'd been certain he'd never be able to evoke again as he admitted to his partner that, yes, he had lost control and lashed out, injuring her father; _dad always told me that blood was thicker than water – just lucky in Stefan's case that isn't the case_;

"Now why doesn't that surprise me, knowing how slippery your mind can be at times?" The armadillo favoured him with a hang-dog expression before giving a triumphant gasp and pulling something out of her pocket like a hunter wrestling a rabbit from its burrow,

"Bulls-eye, knew it was in their somewhere – sorry it's a bit dog-eared but it'll do I'm sure". Big merely nodded politely, leaning down a touch to take the small slip of paper she passed him, smoothing it out to see the message it contained, only to find it was completely blank. Quickly checking the other side to make sure no words had escaped his notice, the purple tabby raised an eyebrow before looking back at Mighty,

"Sure this is the one? There's nothing on it".

"Of course not, you've got to write something"; _you've completely lost me_; she must have seen his nonplussed look and for that he was grateful – at least he hadn't had to ask her to explain, "it's a Christmas-wish card; what you do is write your wish on it, then sleep with it under your pillow on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, we get them all together and set a match to them along with the Yule Log in the fireplace; just the thing to keep us warm while we're scoffing down the turkey and pudding".

"Christmas wish-card", Big parroted wistfully, noticing for the first time the pale illustration on the bottom-left corner of the card, Father Christmas alighting into the frozen sky atop his reindeer-powered sleigh, "neat idea that one; where'd that come from – surely not an old family tradition of yours?" Mighty thought about it for a second, finger tapping her bottom lip as she appeared to sink into a deep contemplation before, eventually, giving a slow answer,

"Well, yes and no", she paused again before explaining her choice of words, "no as it it's not strictly one from our family, but yes as in we adopted from someone very close. Bekka's mum, used to run the Steppes before she inherited it, it was one of her old beliefs and we all took a shine to it; it's just carried on every year, no-one's ever stopped it and, just occasionally, it works".

"Get away".

"I mean it", seeing the affronted look on her face Big lost his joking demeanour to pay closer attention, "Pockets swears by it; he said that a fair few years ago he slept on the wish to find the girl of his dreams, next Christmas he's got Lianne on his arm a month gone with their first, and when Roddy was three he wrote that he wanted a second and, well, nine or ten months later Santa delivered". Big stared at her agog – though he was certain she wasn't trying to pull the wool over his eyes, the cat couldn't honestly conceive of co-incidence striking so closely in succession,

"Right, well", he gave a chuckle, patting himself down as though searching for a pen, "guess there must be something in this after all – got anything to write with?" Mighty sniggered before wafting him towards the door,

"Not now dummy, it's your own wish, I shouldn't see it. Write it when you get a bit of free time, and remember to fold it up tight when you come down on Christmas Day, okay?" Big winked, carefully pulling open the sleeves of one of his gloves and slipping the card inside unfolded, such was the girth of his wrist,

"Suits me, now then, in we go before you freeze"; reminded of the cold by his words the armadillo shivered and raced past him, opening the door before her and slipping inside, sighing as the central heating of the building began to bite its way into banishing the chill in her fur – there was a second's worth of chill breeze at the beck before with a slam, it was banished and Big stood behind her, unaffected by the seasonal cold through his thick winter fur,

"Phwarr, bit of a nip out there isn't there?" Blinking forwards, both Mobians realised they weren't alone; Mighty's youngest uncle was propping up the reception desk of the Steppes itself, shaking his head from time to time and, from the look of things, trying to stay something like awake, "jus' the wake-up call I needed".

"And why do you need waking up?" Mighty queried, squeezing herself into the wall as she hung up her coat to let Big slide past her, the cat moving into the main area of Steppes itself and giving himself a brief shake-down, letting the warmer air of the hostel circulate through his thicker hair strands, "let me guess; Paula unloading some of those fireworks you mentioned last night on your tail?" Samson turned to face her despairingly, the bags under his eyes real as he squinted to focus on them blearily,

"I can wish; no it was the other one, Jess had a bad night", he explained tiredly, the strain on his face obvious as he tried and failed to keep his yawn in check, "she's over it now though, asleep upstairs with her mum".

"Why don't you join them?" Big's question was reasonable and not-altogether unexpected; _you don't know how much I'd like to, but I know just what'll happen if I do_; Samson gave a shrug,

"Sorry mate, much as I'd like to I can't; gotta give it a few more hours at least. If I drop off now I'll be fine until just after dinner tonight, then forget it, I'll be gone with the fairies and I am not missing the races this evening come hell or high water. I swear, this year I will win at least one hand", the elder armadillo complained, Big glancing around to see Mighty snigger at the same time as offer him a look that promised an explanation later, "I hate being the guy who always falls at the first year in, year out".

"Oh well, you know what they say don't you Sam?" As the armadillo looked up Big finished his saying, "unlucky gamblers get all the luck everywhere else". His only response was an undignified snort of laughter, Sam shaking his head before looking at him squarely,

"Yeah right, have you seen my other half?" _Hey_; Mighty glowered; _I get on okay with Paula – no way am I letting you do her down_; acting on her thoughts, the armadillo leapt to her aunts' defence,

"I think that was his point – you of all Mobians needed to be lucky to land a lady like Paula, never mind have a belle of a daughter with her". Sam uncrossed his arm, a half-smirking, half-thoughtful expression on his face as he answered his niece's cheek,

"I needed as much as you did to find someone like him", he motioned with his eyes, continuing to talk though, as Mighty went scarlet, he decided to take a little pity on her plight and let his attention drift back to the task at hand, "anyway, I came down here to decorate this front desk and I now intend to do so; reckon Derek might have made a start on your room Big but I know you're on your own this year Might – if I were you I'd jump to it before you take your seasonal cat-nap, cat optional this year of course". Big gave a slight chuckle as he rolled his eyes down, answering for the pair of them as Mighty seemed to have been stunned into speechlessness by the unexpectedness of her uncle's comeback,

"Not according to Bekka it's not; she did say the punishments for getting up to mischief were severe", quite what they were he also knew but didn't want to rake over now, instead giving a theatrical shudder as his girlfriend finally managed to jolt her shocked mind and manners back to full functionality, "and I certainly believed her; what about you Might?"

"Huh? Oh, um, yeah, something like that, though, let's face it"; _face what exactly?_; the cat began to feel a little heat under his collar area as the squat, powerful form to the side of him twisted to glance up at him for a second, wistful smile on her face before giving her attention back to her family member, "she'd have a hard time trying to evict either of us no matter how many locks she put on that front door of hers". _Oh that's what you meant_; Big's breath of relief wasn't quite as quiet as he'd hoped it could have been but, overall, he thought he'd got away with it as Samson chuckled, not paying him any attention as Mighty's answer made him nod,

"True enough, true enough, you both look like you could batter your way through a few inches of oak without too much hassle", he gave another yawn, stretching off as much as he was able to at the same time as covering his mouth with one free hand, "still, best be getting on; the sooner I can get this place up to speed the sooner I get to turf she-who-must-be-obeyed out of bed and get some shut-eye myself. Not sure if I'll see you again until tonight so if I don't see you then and I look forwards to it".

"Us too", Big nodded as Mighty answered for the pair of them, following in her footsteps as she led him towards the main hall of the Steppes, his hazel eyes roving around the place and noticing how much had changed in just the few short hours since he'd been away fishing on the loch with Reuben.

Though he'd have been the last Mobian on the planet to call the walls of the Steppes barren, especially as he didn't go in for interior decoration much, there was no denying the fact that compared to what they were now, bedecked with tinsel and decorations hanging from every conceivable crevice, they had certainly seemed a little plain. Now, as the soft ceiling light glowed from the roof and was reflected from reams of brightly-coloured metallic plastic streamers and hanging decorations, the cat found himself drinking in the spectrum of light and life all around him and slowly nodding his head at it all; _they really do pull out all the stops at this time of year – Mighty sure got that right_. With a smile, he glanced to the side of him, only to find it suddenly vacant; it was only when he hurriedly cast his eyes forwards that he realised Mighty was already moving towards the main hallway and he made to catch up, nodding to her uncle as he brushed past, the contact seeming to help stir the older armadillo from his encroaching slumber,

"Wait up a sec"; she looked back, eyebrows up,

"Oh sorry Big, thought you were behind me".

"Well I am now", the cat retorted as he came a halt just behind her, "anyway, what are we up to here; thought we'd got to decorate our own rooms, you have certainly at least". Mighty gave a slow nod, enlightening smile slipping over her face as she explained something he was still in the dark about,

"And we have to, you're quite right, but where are we going to get the decorations from exactly?" _Good point_; the way his eyes closed and he shivered for a second told her all she needed to know about how well her point had gone across and without another word she pushed the door open, striding inside as she did so,

"Take it from me they're always a box or two full in here", she spoke over her shoulder before turning to face the room in general; after a second of taking in the scene before her and the sudden stillness that had greeted her arrival, she slewed to a halt and folded her arms sternly, Big just about able to stop himself running into the back of her by pulling up sharpish, "and I'd be right, though if anyone else knew what else was going on in here, those boxes would be full of something else pretty quickly!"

XXX

_Yeah right_; though he could see the guilt etched clearly on every young face in the room Big knew, deep down, that of all people Mighty was going to be the last armadillo in her family to do any ear-chewing about youthful exuberance overcoming the need to take into account even basic health and safety legislation; _though, give them credit, they've made an effort_. That was certainly true – in fact even as he watched the armadillo that was currently in the air was hastily lowered to the ground by his compatriot, the foursome underneath him with the blanket making sure he landed with a whisper rather than a thump as, with what she must have hoped was a winning rather than worried smile, Mina raised a hand in a weak greeting,

"Uh, hi aunt Mighty", she took half a pace back as the armadillo's unflinching gaze suddenly bored into her before managing to rally briefly, "like what we've done with the room? All ourselves too", she said suddenly, a touch more pride in her voice than Big would have given her credit for as she stood a little taller, running a hand through her lavender hair before wafting it towards the rest of her supporting cast, the rest of the youngsters nodding in agreement with the mongoose's proclamation as she explained, "we bet Bekka we could get the whole great hall decorated before it was time for supper, said our pudding would be free if we could, and we'd do all the washing up if we couldn't".

"I see"; _stop being evil_; even as he fixed his eyes on the back of his girlfriend's head the cat couldn't help but smirk a touch as Mighty's folded arms travelled downwards, coming to rest on her hips, "so, how exactly have you been getting all this stuff hung; you haven't been standing on the tables or anything have you?"

"No", Roddy exclaimed, banging the butt of the long pole he carried on the stone floor for extra emphasis as he shook his head vigorously, "we'll show you how; Nick, get ready, you four, five even, JIC".

Big had just enough time to realise that Roddy was, in fact, carrying a window-pole before he let it drop suddenly, levelling it almost like a lance at the armadillo he'd pointed at first, still calling instructions as he did so,

"Right, get that little star, we'll do that next, no, not that one", the target of his attention froze, fingers hovering above the small box of decorations the kids had opened between them before, with a sudden determined huff, the youngster made his mind up and dived right in, emerging a second later with his choice of decoration, holding it up for all to see, "yeah, that'll do. _I can see this not ending well if they're not careful_; despite himself Big got ready just in case something went horribly wrong; even as Roddy lowered his makeshift weapon the cat could see exactly what he had planned and, a second later, was vindicated as the younger armadillo grabbed hold of the end of it. Roddy took a second to plant his feet before, with a grunt of effort, face contorted with strain, he hefted the end and, by degrees, began to hoist his relative up off the ground – as he did so, another quintet seized hold of the blanket that had lain on the ground and got ready to move, forcing Big to hide a chuckle; _looks like they're running a tight ship here_. Higher and higher the armadillo was lifted, as he went up, Big raised an eyebrow to see Roddy being given a helping hand as others, taller than he was mostly, grabbed further up the shaft of the window pole and stretched, easing his burden somewhat at the same time as help their companion gain the height he needed.

"Okay", at the shout from on high everyone stopped moving, a strange-looking conga line standing stock-still beneath the raised wooden stick as the JIC crew; Big recalled an instant later the acronym was short for 'Just in Case'; shuffled to stand right underneath Nick himself, blanket taut in case he slipped and fell. No-one moved, least of all the two adults present, as the little armadillo in the most precarious position began to call his instructions, measuring things such as distance and spatial awareness with his eyes alone,

"Forward a bit", the conga-line shuffled a touch, "bit more", another shuffle, "hmm, higher I think, 'til I say when", for an instant nothing happened before, with a collective heave, every Mobian at the floor-end of the window pole exerted the strength they had to gain another few precious inches from the grip of gravity, "keep going, keep going, smidgen more…good!" Such was the suddenness of his shout that Big was sure the jerk from the sudden stop would send him tumbling but, despite his worries, Nick at least had a good grip; slowly taking one hand off his safety bar, the youngster stretched forwards, star in hand, straining to reach the wall ahead of him – nothing moved for a minute before he gave a cry of triumph, letting his arm fall and showing the star now neatly tacked to the wall, almost glowing with pride at his achievement,

"I got it, now lemme down!" It might just have been his imagination but Big was almost certain he heard one of the crew supporting his vertical suspension mutter something along the lines of,

"With pleasure", before, slowly, the pole started to descend, the soles of the armadillo's shoes getting closer and closer to the floor until, about five feet up, he simply let go, dropping onto the blanket held up by the five youngsters underneath him. As he bounced for a second and then began flapping his way over to the edges of the safety net Roddy, having recaptured his breath and planted the butt of the pole on the flagstones, looked up at the pair of Mobians supervising the system he could, he realised with a touch of pride, take a fair bit of credit for coming up with,

"So", he took another deep breath, stretching one of his arms as it was finally starting to shows signs of fatigue after all the lifting he'd done; _no good – have to get Mina involved soon, she's lighter than everyone else, I can lift her easily_; "that's how we've been getting this place into shape. Any complaints?"

Big said nothing – after all, it had been Mighty who'd started this whole ball rolling when they'd come into the main hall so, going by that logic, it had to be her who finished it by an admission that yes, the idea this motley crew of the younger members of her family had come up with was both technically sound and surprisingly easy to implement. Well, that was what he would have said at any rate; Mighty, of course, wasn't feeling quite as forgiving as all that – as the silence stretched longer and longer he had to resist the urge to give her a sharp knock on the shell to remind her not to be such a git to these youngsters. _I bet this was just the sort of thing she'd have done at their age – stop being rotten you_; there was a sudden chuckle from in front of him, Mighty's shell traversing somewhat as she shook her head; _wow, you heard me_;

"Not from around here you won't get any", there was a collective sigh of relief from the congregation before them, a lot of the juvenile members of his girlfriend's physically sagging with relief that their idea had met with official adult approval, "neat plan the lot of you – something tells me Bekka's going to be crossing a fair few names off her Christmas list when she figures out how much this is going to cost her for pudding and ice-cream". There were a couple of good-natured chuckles before Mina managed to speak again, enthusiasm evident in her tone as she strode forwards, arms and fast fingers pointing out the basic features of how the whole thing worked – nothing Big hadn't been able to figure out of course, but he listened in anyway to assuage the mongoose's need to flaunt the cleverness of her and her new friends,

"Thanks aunt Mighty, it's really easy to pull together you know; Wull got the old pole down from above the main fireplace and it went from there. We just get someone to grab the end, like you saw, then we can all lift them up in the air, well", she paused for a second, fingering her chin before glancing over her shoulder, apparently having to give credit where it was due, "Roddy does most of the lifting; he's the strongest out of all of us". The named armadillo gave an embarrassed chuckle at this, tugging one of his ears self-consciously with a free hand as he grinned sheepishly,

"Well, everyone else helps", he muttered softly before, apparently realising he was now the centre of attention, he stood up taller and carried on where Mina had left off, trying to braze through his uncharacteristic slip-up, "but, er, we get them up; they pick a decoration before they go of course, easier that way, and just to be safe we've got those four holding that blanket there, in case, you know, they slip".

"Nice idea", Mighty commented carefully before Big saw her attention held by something else; as he followed her vision he realised what, or, to be more accurate, who it was that did so, "but what's your job Ed? You're not holding the blanket are you?"

Even now, surrounded by others, it appeared that Roddy's younger brother couldn't shed his awful nerves; he shook his head vigorously at the suggestion before apparently dredging up some modicum of courage and, still not daring to look either his aunt or her massive consort in the face, managed to mumble,

"No". _That might be all we'll get out of him too_; Big thought with a pang of regret – it was only when he heard Mighty's voice again that he realised with a jolt that she'd obviously not heard enough and was taking it upon herself to bully some more words out of her shyness-stricken nephew,

"So, what are you doing then?" She never dropped eye contact as Edward scuffed the ground, still not able to look up and meet her gaze as he mumbled his reply, barely loud enough for them to hear,

"If they drop anything, I throw it back up to them", he explained, his hands making quick gestures to try and back up his explanations even as he continued his attempts to outstare the floor; _no, that's enough now_. Realising what was about to happen from the quiver that ran all through Mighty's back, the cat just behind her cleared his throat and quickly tapped her with one of his knuckles, the movement quick and hidden from the eyes of the children before her; she turned clumsily, upset at having her momentum upset before it could get going, looking into the cat's face with a raised eyebrow. _What's your game then?_; seeing the almost imperceptible shake of his head the armadillo knew what he meant and, suddenly itching with curiosity about why he was trying to dissuade her from trying to take the conversation forwards, decided to draw a line under it and withdraw; _at least then I'll be able to find out quicker_;

"Okay, sounds like a plan", she spared him a nod before raising her voice, addressing the assembled youngsters as a whole, "right you lot, sounds like you're not doing too badly but just, please, be careful, okay?" There was a desultory chorus of affirmation before she bade them all a silent farewell, following Big's tail as he was the first to leave the main hall, all the time wondering exactly why he'd stopped her from trying to talk as she had done – after all, Lianne had always said, if no-one tried surely Ed would only get worse?

XXX

"I know what you're about to ask"; _typical_; she'd opened her mouth to speak and Big had simply rolled right over her, the cat turning around with a hand upraised as soon as the door to the main hall had slid shut, one palm upraised and his voice soft, unable to be listened into by curious young ears from next door, "and take it from me if you'd have tried to get him to talk any more he'd have just clammed up even further".

"Huh?" Wind well and truly taken out of her sails by that curt explanation, Mighty had only one avenue to direct her query down, "how'd you know that?" Big shifted from foot to foot, looking a little uncomfortable; _oh_; immediately she regretted her question; _something tells me I should be able to make a pretty good guess_;

"I used to do the same a bit, at school like", he explained; he'd meant his speech to be delivered in a breezy tone but, instead, found himself trying not to wince as to his own ears it sounded mangled and contrite – trying to make the best of it, he soldiered on, "but still, that's past and I'm not going there – believe me he'll grow out of it over time, just gotta give him the space he must think he needs". Capitulating to his superior and, she admitted with a pang of regret for his sake, hard-won knowledge in this field, Mighty forcibly thrust the issue of her virtually-mute nephew from her mind and instead concentrated on the next issue they both had to deal with,

"Fair enough, I think Pockets has said something similar before now – pointless trying to get him to talk if he doesn't want to. But anyway, enough of that, we've still got jobs to do before this evening…"

"…and, as before, we still don't have the tools to do them", as Mighty, mouth still open from where she'd been expecting to finish talking before her boyfriend cut in, eyes twinkling with a roguish smile on his lips, "forgot to pick up the Christmas decorations didn't you?" _Oops_; yes, yes she had – Mighty shook her head for a minute before something else tugged at her mind and she suddenly found herself looking at the cat once more, a more challenging glint in her eyes this time,

"Yeah, I did; you could have reminded me though you barrel-bellied fluff-bucket". _Oh so it's like that is it?_; Big's eyes flashed dangerously at both her insult and her tone,

"Could've", the cat answered slowly; Mighty braced herself for what was probably coming, "but if you don't train that memory of yours it'll never get better. Though maybe I shouldn't be surprised", he commented airily with a shrug as the armadillo glowered, "much like your sense of direction, your memory's so feeble that remembering to breathe and eat probably knackers it completely". _Okay, I'll shut up now_; he hadn't quite meant to be as cutting as that but, seeing the blood in Mighty's face start to rise, he realised he'd probably put one of his size-fourteen feet over the line and decided to withdraw before the armadillo could pounce and reduce it to pulp,

"Yeah, something like that", the armadillo growled, though Big was cautiously optimistic that the corners of her lips were upturned as she did so and, despite her voice, she wasn't actually all that angry with him, "in fact it's so bad I sometimes forget who my friends are, you catch my drift?" At his silence she drew one of her terrifying fists back and, seeing it, Big dropped his dumb act, smiling engagingly in the hope of diffusing her anger,

"Well and truly caught hook, line and sinker", the cat assured her; at this, Mighty likewise lost her false temper and smiled once more, jerking her head towards the foot of the stairs behind her,

"Good; now assuming I can winch in and land that massive bulk of yours, we can cadge a couple of lines of tinsel and a few decorations from someone upstairs I'm sure. That'll let us get this whole thing under wraps and we'll sort ourselves out from there; now, you might have guessed but we're all going to be up late tonight, the adults here are anyway…"

"Oh, you want me to tuck you in at seven then"; _knew that was a mistake_; from the second those words had left her lips Mighty had regretted not picking them with a little more care – trying to soldier on as best she could, the armadillo carried on where she'd left off,

"…so you might want to get a bit of kip before then. And no, I can put myself to bed I assure you; even my feeble memory can recall how to do that much".

"Just as well", the cat grinned at her slyly, "though going on the number of times you've half-keeled off my chair at Mystic Ruins I was starting to wonder – you know I prefer that chair if you're over, the blanket on the heather's about the only thing that keeps you warm". _Yeah but I can think of something I'd prefer…what the hell are you saying!_

The thought had slammed straight into her mind, she had no control over either it or her reaction to it – even as Big suddenly settled his weight onto his back foot, no doubt concerned at the racing fire suddenly consuming her face, the armadillo was trying frantically to fight back her blush and pour the oil of logical thought onto the raging oceans of her previously unchecked desires; _stop it, stop it right now!_

"Umm, well, be that as it may, the blankets here are pretty thick enough for me", it was a mangled, garbled speech even by her own admission but it was the best she could do; suddenly and almost for the first time since she'd ever been partnered with her boyfriend Mighty found herself wishing she was away from him, a million miles removed from this creature who made her forget her normal thoughts and uncaged wild, impassioned wants from deep within her; _gotta get away, gotta get somewhere calm and sort my head out_; "so, if you don't mind, I'll be on my way to my room, alone if you don't mind".

She could only hope he mistook the concern in her voice as a flirtatious tease rather than the drawled plea it actually was, and only hope even more that having mistaken it he didn't try to act on it; her relief when he brought a hand to his face, stroking his lower lips, was so great that it took all her meagre acting talents to avoid letting out a massive breath of relief,

"Hmm, well much as I'd like to mind I suppose I'd better abide Bekka's rule, though not for my sake I assure you; in fact you should thank me".

"Thank?" The armadillo looked up even as one foot slid backwards away from the other, down the corridor; _please Big, just let me got for now_; "what for?"

"Well I could survive a night on the doorstep I'm sure but for you", he shook his head and Mighty felt her already burning need to be away from this place step up to a fever-pitch vehementing to be gone, "I'm also sure you'd wake up like an ice-cube and I certainly don't want to have to wait for you to thaw out before I get to presents".

"Me neither, too much fun I'd miss out on; anyway", the conversation as brief as she could make politely make it, Mighty quickly made to terminate it, "I've got a room to decorate, then I'm getting some kip; see you in a few hours, just remember to wake me up!" Big grinned at the sudden spark in her eyes and inclined his head low, appeasing her suddenly sharp demands,

"As if I'd forget; still, got work of my own to do now. See you later Mighty"; as always one arm extended for her and she had no choice but to go into its welcoming embrace. This last hold was exquisite torture for her, twin desires to remain where she was as long as possible and rip herself away as quickly as she could pulling her equally in opposite directions – she remained locked in this limbo for far, far too long; when the cat finally let her go she ran, no, more than that, she sprinted down the hallway towards the sanctuary of her rented hostel room, not daring to look back over her shoulder for fear of what might happen if she did, for whether she would break down into sobs or hysteria she was unable to say.

XXX

_What was all that about?_; Big watched her go, his eyes on her until the last vestiges of her boot heels disappeared around the kink in the corridor, his hand back on his chin as he replayed her strange behaviour for the last minute over in his mind; _she was definitely not right just then – why though? Hope it wasn't anything I did – no, we were both okay walking back from the loch… unless, it might have been…_; nothing changed in his expression but he clicked his fingers as he came to the most logical conclusion he could compute in his mind; _…what happened slightly before that – why else would she have thought she needed to apologise for his behaviour?_ Obviously arguing with her father had taken a lot out of her and for that Big had nothing but respect for his partner; no wonder she wanted a little breathing space to sort her head out right now after some of the things Stefan must have said to her, how hard he must have pushed her if he'd been anything like as obnoxious as he had at the loch itself; _calling her nothing – how dare he!_

Once more the cat had to stifle a growl at the mnemonic insult, but fortunately his naturally placid nature allowed him to keep a lid on his temper; calmly, reasoning things through in his head as he paced towards his room, he decided the best thing to do would be to give his girlfriend a bit of time on her own for now, let her come to terms with things in privacy – it would probably be easier for her that way. _Just do as she says, wake her up at dinner time or so – still, until then_; thrusting the conundrum of both Stefan and the rift his ill-tempered words had opened in his daughter's normal thoughts to the back of his mind, Big went back to his own room at his own leisurely pace, brightening at the thought of the happy chore awaiting him when he got there; _got a spot of feng-shui to look forwards to, and all in the Christmas spirit too!_

XXX

Never before had Mighty been so grateful that one of her family was absent from the celebrations this time of year; as she reached the room she'd been given in the rented hostel the armadillo was certain that, had her aunt managed to make it this time around, she'd have certainly been perturbed by the expression of her niece as she slammed the door shut and vaulted onto her bed, feet barely touching the carpet as she buried her head in the pillow, mid all over the place. _What the hell is going on?!_; the answer she demanded was the one she was unable to give herself; rolling over with the pillow clasped to her face, the armadillo couldn't even remember exactly what she'd been thinking that had meant she had to get away so fast; _but I had to, I know that much – what was it?_ Again, try as she might she couldn't think of the reasons that had echoed in her mind scant seconds before; only the lingering traces of her fiery blush and a sudden malaise of shame slicked across her mind gave her any clues, the feeling amplified even further as she recalled Big holding her that last time, just before she'd been able to pull away; _Big…_;

He was the central piece of this puzzle, a puzzle that had now been suddenly and violently shaken around in its box, its components scattered all around heedlessly just now, as she sought to make sense of them all. Staring up at the ceiling, Mighty hugged her arms across her chest, dimly recalling words spoken only this morning though it seemed like half a lifetime ago now; she'd employed them carelessly then, little more than a lash to sting her father with, only now they made more uncomfortable remembrance for her. _…Continue to associate with who I want to, do the jobs I want to do and…_; this was the one that really made her smoulder, curling up into a ball as, unlike virtually every other statement she'd pronounced in front of her father, she could recall this one picture-perfectly; _sleep with the people I choose to_. But why had she said that – nothing had happened as Big, ever the perfect gentleMobian, would have never even considered rushing her into something she wasn't sure in her own mind she wasn't one-hundred and ten percent ready for; now there was every chance Stefan would have made his mind up on the basis of a lie and would punish the cat still more mercilessly on the basis of a groundless truth. Even as that possibility crossed her mind she dismissed it though – it was only a disguise for her true dilemma, the one she'd caught herself out with in a half-second of reckless thought, the idea that, while nothing had happened up to now, was she going to be the one who took it in her hands to make something happen, or even could she do so? _After all, got no idea what Bigs' thoughts on the matter might be_; it was a reasonable suggestion that crossed her mind then, one that allowed her to begin purifying her thoughts and sift concrete fact from wild, half-dreamed fiction; _and no matter how much he might try and rattle my cage, I can't let him push me into something either I'm, or perhaps even Big, isn't wanting just yet_.

Not a muscle moved in her physical body; she wasn't even aware of what she was seeing to be honest, but her mental memory and muscles were being stretched to overtime and then some as she taxed them to the limit, plan and counter-plan being formulated, contemplated and then either discarded or fine-tuned as necessary. Relaxed and focussing on her own ideas Mighty let herself drift a little, making sure she was at peace within and, where friction did appear, that at least a temporary truce had been brokered before moving on, taking into consideration as many facets of the multitudes of arguments she could conceive of as she made up her divided minds. However, behind the scenes of such internal diplomacy was a single, overriding objective, one that not a single procedure she brought to bear dared to contradict or threaten as she focussed on everything else; eventually, when all was as done as she could make it in the time she had and with the tools she could muster, the armadillo pushed aside all else and consulted this final oracle, the one goal she had set herself and, having seen her work thus far did not break this iron contract, smiled in grim satisfaction. _There it is dad, that's the stone-cold truth_; her fingers grooved furrows in the blanket at her side, the honesty in her words cast imperishably in her mind as she finally opened her eyes again, the picture slightly blurry even as she blinked away sudden, unbidden tears; _nothing you do or say, no matter how you try and get us both to snap, is going to either push us apart or force us to rush into anything – Big and I are going at our own speed, our own pace and we are not letting someone as small and inconsequential as you dictate anything to us!_

Suddenly she sat up, not wanting to be laid down any longer, not when there was work to do at any rate. Shaking herself off as much as she was able to, the armadillo slid her legs off the end of the bed and stood up, taking a second to recollect her bearings and make sure she wasn't about to have a complete head-rush so soon after doing so much good, positive thinking for a change. Instead, as her gaze swept over the room and her lips puckered up in distaste, she began to formulate another plan in her mind, slapping her hands together as she solved a pair of problems at once; _yeah, mum's always got three or four bits lying around, she always takes too much – I can liberate them and put them to good use at the same time as explain a couple of things about what's gone on_; her brows knitted at this – she would have to be careful about what she said there, she didn't want to upset her mother unduly and, truth be told, her quarrel was with her father directly, so no need to get Emily involved at all. Still, that could be thought of later, if indeed she decided to let it trouble her at all – right now, she needed to get this drab little room all spruced up for the festive season and to do that, she had to pay her mother a visit…

A short while later, her bedroom now suitably decked out with boughs of holly, tinsel and all manner of other sundries, Mighty gave a satisfied nod before, much to her surprise, she let out a yawn; covering her mouth with a hand she blinked around, shaking herself off blearily. _Where did that come from?_ _Though, truth be told, I am feeling a little tired_; it was true, though as to why Mighty had no idea – even on her easiest days in the Chaotix she'd always done more exercise than the tiny spot of decorating she'd just completed; her only conclusion was that the argument with her father and, just after that, the frantic agonising she'd just put herself through had shattered her mentally. Whatever the reason though, she thought ideally as she pulled of first one, then the other of her shoes, it might have been a bit of a blessing in disguise; certainly she could use forty or so winks before the evening rolled around. Settling down on top of the blankets again, the armadillo stretched out, let her eyes fall shut and, almost before she realised it, drifted off soundlessly to sleep.

XXX

"Hmm, wha?"

"Come on mate", the large blur in front of his eyes shifted a bit, making him squint as he tried to focus on it so soon after coming back to wakefulness, "nearly time to get this whole show on the road; set my alarm just to be sure". Big nodded, verbal communication completely beyond him as he tried to recall the basic motor functions that would enable him to stagger out of bed despite feeling like he'd been dragged backwards through a hedge. As Derek moved backwards to give him a bit more space, the mammoth cat finally cleared his muggy head enough to drag himself upwards, legs flopping down to the carpet as his toes groped around for the comforting warmth of his normal footwear,

"Heh", at the sound of a chuckle from the side of him Big stopped rubbing his eyes clear and shot a side-long look at his roommate, Derek apparently all ready to rock and roll, "guess you're not much a nap person usually?"

"Definitely not; urgh", with a great heave he came to his feet, the armadillo to the side of him making sure to give him plenty of space as he swayed alarmingly before straightening up, "more often than not got a lot to do, so knocking off for a quick siesta in the middle of the day really ain't much of an option. Still, now we're mostly up and ready to go"; _are you talking to me or you there pal?_; Derek hid his smile as the colossal feline before him seemed to give himself a verbal dressing-down before composing himself and facing him once more, "let's be getting on now; lead the way, I'm hungry".

"You and me both, oh", halfway to the door Derek suddenly paused, the small part of his ears Big could see quivering as an idea was earthed between them, "better see if Mighty's rolling yet; leave that to you?"

"Sure"; temporarily forgetting what had occurred just before he'd set about hunting down the decorations he'd needed and set them up strategically around his half of his room, Big agreed to that clause before even his prodigious memory could flag up any reservations Mighty may have had to seeing him again at such short notice, "just let me get something like presentable first". The grey-shell gave another chuckle,

"You bet, get a bit spruced up before seeing the other half again, go for it"; he then quickly darted out the room before Big could lumber after him for the cheek in that comment, the cat trying to scowl at the same time as suppress a roguish smile; _other half – just lucky for him she's not here right now – she'd have given him what for and no mistake! Actually_; now Big really did smile, a dangerously dark expression, suavely calculating and not at all familiar on his usually honest and open face; _yeah, the right couple of words in her ears and she might still do that anyway. Nice idea Derek – hand the beat-stick of your family a stick to beat you with_. Though there was no actual way the cat would have even dreamed of putting such a nefarious scheme into practice, the innate snide humour of such a scenario nibbled the edges of Big's thoughts as he strode through the corridor on his self-appointed errand, nodding politely as armadillo either passed him in the corridor or peeped through their doors to see him move past. Such vision entertained him up until the point he came to the door of Mighty's room itself; as if the painted wood was a reminder the cat suddenly found himself flattening his ears and shaking his head, humour evaporated and only slight confusion and doubt recondensing in his mind as once more he saw her virtually headlong flight from him, the armadillo's familiar back racing away down the corridor towards this very room, a haven from something he could only hope was a delayed reaction to her father's earlier brazen attack on her as a Mobian, her own sense of worth.

He felt as though he stood at a threshold, as though the door itself was somehow more than simply just another barred passageway into a room in a hostel in Scotland – it loomed suddenly, large and hugely important in his mind as he tried to think whether he should or shouldn't knock upon it, the reasons for each side of the argument warring and colliding in his head. He stood where he was for a moment, trying to reason them all through and put them into some sort of logical order before simply deciding he didn't have time to pursue so lengthy and, in the long run, fruitless a task, he drew the entire conflict down into a single series of yes/no questions:

_Is Mighty in that room? Yes…_

…_Do I want to see her and go down to dinner with her? Yes…_

…_Even knowing who's going to be down there waiting for the pair of us?..._; the cat had to suddenly bite down on his lip for a moment, for the first time aware of how much pointless agonising he might have just avoided by getting straight down to the basics of the matter;_ …definitely yes…_

…_in that case…_; the matter was settled – he drew back his arm; _…I knock, ask her if she's ready and if she is then let's get this show on the road._ Much more at peace with himself now, the cat rapped smartly on the wood three times, a broad grin on his feline features that, after a few seconds had ticked remorselessly by, shrunk slightly, polluted with consternations about why she hadn't replied. He repeated the gesture, slightly louder this time, leaning towards the door to see if he could hear anything from within; _hmm, no, nothing going on in there. I wonder – she could be already awake_; almost before he'd thought about it one of his sausage-like fingers had curled around the door handle to try it, though as it pressed down under his gentle pressure he recognised he couldn't take that as gospel she was inside; _after all, this is all her family and I know for a fact that they, in fact not a single one of them, would ever stoop as low as stealing from their own._ That much was true, though the cat bit into his bottom lip a touch, not a hundred percent sure how to proceed now as the last thing he wanted to do was be accused of muscling into his girlfriends' room; _at the same time though, don't want to be seen loitering as though with intent…ah_; a cavalier part of his psyche rose up and grabbed the reins for a minute, allowing him to take a dare this one time; _to hell with it_;

"Mighty?" He said the name softly, barely louder than a whisper as he knocked again, pushing to door gradually open even as he did so, "Might, you about in here?" Poking his head around the door cautiously, the cat glanced around almost nervously before, with a sigh halfway between annoyance ad affection, he realised exactly why he hadn't gotten any answer in locating her so far.

She was lain facing towards the wall the door was set in, letting him see the front of her rather than the normal matt black expanse of her featureless shell, still sound asleep and dreaming as he tip-toed soundlessly inside, a soft smile on his face as he recognised the armadillo inside. _Out like a light_; and she was – even as he sat down on the end of the bed and made the blanket bow out she never stirred, merely continuing to dream whatever she was dreaming; for a second Big was tempted just to leave and let her carry on her lovely slumber but, remembering what everyone else had told him thus far about this holiday, he understood that, in the long run, she probably wouldn't thank him for it as she'd miss both the last meal of the evening and possibly even the start of the mysterious races he'd heard so much about. Therefore, leaning down and slowly extending an almost trembling paw, nerves and slight excitement getting to him even now as he realised that they were both alone, the cat steeling himself and reached forwards, feathering a touch on her shoulder and giving the very gentlest of nudges,

"Mighty?" She didn't even stir; he self-consciously shook himself down and tried again, this time giving a slightly harder push, "Mighty – come on babe, time to get going". Her lips moved, a vague burble issuing forth as she shuffled on the blanket; just as the cat was thinking about going in for a third time, however, the armadillo's centre of gravity rolled backwards too far and she flopped onto her back; the sudden vertigo of such a movement combined with her already half-sentient state was enough to settle the matter as, with a gasp of air and reflexive kick of shock, Mighty jolted awake.

XXX

_Huh, Big?_; her mind was all over the places, memories jumbled up hither and thither like snowflakes in a gale as she came to; _what's going on – where are we? Ohmigosh_; a sudden fear seized her, almost causing her to grab the blanket and hitch it up to her chin before she could rein herself in, sort out the probable and improbable reasons as to why the cat was in here, not least because of all the dreams she could recall he'd been a principle figure in most of them; _no, calm down, cool it – Big's here but there's no way in a month of Sundays he'd lay a finger on me…why's he stood up all of a sudden?_ Curious as to why the cat had vacated his previous seat the armadillo squinted upwards and, seeing him rub a recently-tenderised area of his anatomy, gave a badly-stifled snicker of laughter,

"Shut up"; this, of course, simply made it impossible for Mighty to rein herself in – with a proper laugh now she shook her head at where he was rubbing just beneath one of his hips, "that was ruddy sore that was".

"Well if you will sit where I can't see you", she retorted, finally letting go of the blanket she'd half-wrapped herself up in and reaching forwards to get her warm hands on her suddenly cold feet, bereft of the shoes she'd kicked off before collapsing on her bed, "sorry about that though". The cat gave a theatrical roll of his hazel eyes,

"Oh and not before time I can tell you; you kick hard", he pouted, almost setting her off on another laughing bout before dropping his act and speaking a little more seriously, "but anyway, get something on your feet and then we'd better get downstairs; Derek just woke me and apparently it's time for a bite. And just out of interest", he squinted as he noticed the watch on her wrist but couldn't get a good view of it as she brought her hands up to rub her face, "what is the time?" Giving a hard blink to ensure her sight was functioning a hundred percent, the armadillo flicked her eyes sideways and gave a start,

"Blimey, too late, get a shift on we'd better", flumping over to the other side of bed for her boots, Mighty called over her shoulder as she felt Big stand up, "going to be a long night it is tonight; first we'll all have a big feast, then we'll pack all the smaller riff-raff off to bed and then, finally, we get down to the good bit". _Is there any point asking?_; looking over his shoulder as he stretched off, the cat saw his girlfriend's back and, knowing her as well as he did now, realised his answer; _probably not – she'll only want to keep me in suspense until it's almost upon the pair of us. Still, looking forwards to some more of the tuck from this place I can tell you_; that was certainly true – though he could never claim to be a great follower of haute cuisine, the meals provided from the kitchens of the Highland Steppes had been truly sumptuous thus far, and he was under no illusion that this would continue this evening. In fact he was so busy picturing the menu for tonight that it was only when he heard Mighty's gasp from behind him that his trance broke and he glanced at her again. Upon even the briefest viewing of her whitened face and horror-struck eyes he immediately paid more attention, forgetting about eating at all as he followed her shock-deadened gaze – once he realised what was there waiting for him, however, he very quickly joined his girlfriend in the land of the stunned and speechless, though his face was bright red rather than the armadillo's chalk-white.

Standing in the doorway to Mighty's room was none other than her mother, and both Mobians present within the room itself knew exactly what she must be seeing and, from that, could take a pretty precise and squirmingly uncomfortable guess at the conclusions she was drawing in her head.

_Oh mum, please no_; the second she could get her blood flowing again it all rushed up to her head, making her vision swim with dizziness as she saw the smirk hovering on Emily's lips; _no sarky comments, no mocking remarks, nothing like that because Big'll never forget them_. Her mental implorings were of such power that surely nothing on the planet, let alone someone stood not seven or eight feet away from her, could have not heard them but somehow her mother seemed immune; time slowed to the merest crawl as Mighty was forced to watch her mother's lips twitch, virtually see the syllables formed before Emily pronounced them and she was helpless to stop them being uttered – she could only cross her fingers and pray to God that her boyfriend would be able to scrub her mothers' words from his mind as easily as it appeared he had her fathers,

"Well, this is cosy", Emily wouldn't have been able to call herself Mobian if she hadn't had a smirk, even a little one, at the couple's predicament as she unluckily caught them both out, a perfectly reasonable get-together found under perfectly imperfect settings, "don't worry, my lips are sealed; come on, no-one's about. Duck out fast, you'll not be seen". She stood to the side quickly, pushing the door open completely with her fingertips as the pair of them bolted past, Big out first without even slowing down as he just about managed to make it out without shattering the doorframe. As he came to an unsteady halt with Emily's eyes at his back, the elder of the two armadillo's present felt a hand take her own, larger and much more powerful than her grip could ever hope to be as it gave a soft squeeze, the accompanying words cementing the gratitude the hand's owner felt towards her,

"Thanks mum"; _my pleasure, in fact the least I could do_; hand on heart Emily would have been unable to deny that she had been planning to say a little more than she'd let them get away with just then but, having recalled in the nick of time what she'd gleaned from earlier in the afternoon with her husband, she'd decided on the spot she couldn't be cruel enough to force the pair of them through any more purgatory, she'd let them off lightly. Acting as though she hadn't heard her daughter's whisper, Emily pulled herself upright and turned around, nodding at Big as she did so,

"Right then, we best get downstairs before the rest of the avalanche strips the table bare; good spot there Big"; _what was?_; confusion must have been written large all over his face as Emily answered before he'd even gathered the wits to ask, "noticing the lump over there hadn't surfaced yet".

"Well, uh", the cat wasn't quite sure what to say to that, not least because Mighty was glowering at both him and her mother equally; _probably best to play it safe_; "actually more luck than judgement, Derek's just kicked me out of bed as it is". The comment made both mother and daughter laugh in tandem,

"First time for everything then", Might drawled after a second, seeing her boyfriend smile as the infectious humour took a toe-hold on him, "anyway, come on you lot, I'm starving".

"You don't look it"; _mum_; the younger armadillo knifed the elder with a look of pure filth, the malevolence within it only increasing as Emily continued to look angelically innocent; _you are cruising for a bruising here…_; "but I agree, it is most definitely", she checked her watch one last time, the wrist-mounted timepiece much more elegant and delicate than the rough-and-ready variety Mighty favoured, a necessity for it being able to survive most of the work she ended up doing on Angel Island, "dinner time. Come on Big; hope you like pick-and-mix".

The cat merely watched on incredulous as she walked past, completely and utterly flummoxed by her last oblique reference – had Wull and Bekka hired some kind of sweet-shop for them all? He hoped to look for answers out of Mighty but, he quickly realised, that was a lost cause from the outset; all he was able to glean there was a knowing look and a sly smile. He tried to look insouciant and failed, instead grinning widely as the armadillo fell into step beside him, one of her hands on the fur of his broad back, caressing though the thick fibres and making him shiver at the same time his closest hand quested for the crown of her shell, seeking her ears as a target,

"Trust me", she spoke as he at last felt solid armour under his palm, "you'll find out when we're down there". _Now if it were anyone else I wouldn't believe them_; luckily Emily didn't look over her shoulder as the pace of the two behind her slowed dramatically – with both fur and ears being ruffled and teased, neither could concentrate much on walking, in fact Big could barely muster the energy to finish his fledgling thought; _but just for you I'll make an exceptioohhoonnn – just left, just to the left…bullseye-eee!_

XXX

As Emily in front of them pushed open the door, Big took a single sight of the spread laid out before him and a singular scent of the same sight; both of which set his mouth watering impatiently,

"So", he managed to speak through the excess saliva, looking down to see Mighty fighting a similar battle to avoid her hunger running away with her, "this is an armadillo pick-and-mix then?"

"Oh yeah", she breathed back, eyes already feasting on the full table off to one side of the dining hall, the sight transfixing and tormenting her until she could finally bear it no longer, "so, before this lot polish it off entirely, let's just go dig in".

"Now that", the cat spoke as he followed her into the dining area itself, raising a paw and nodding greetings to those who recognised him, "is something I do agree with"; _and boy, do I ever!_

He agreed because of not only one, but a pair of equal and co-joined facts; firstly, unlike every other meal time the cat could remember at the Steppes, the entirety of Mighty's family appeared to be corralled around just one, rather than both of the huge tables, making space a bit of a premium as far as he could tell. Some of the younger ones had, in fact, neglected to find any space at all and were instead setting up a makeshift camp on the floor along the far wall, where they were less likely to get accidentally trodden on by a pre-occupied adult. Aside from the eldest ancestors, secluded from the rest of the younger, rather more reckless members of their family as they held their own table at the head of the room itself, everyone else was crowded around and fighting for both elbow room and to be heard; mingled call and shouts were the norm as the individual leaves and branches of the extended armadillo family tree took up every available scrap of room. Even before Big could question why they didn't spread out to the other table though, he had that question answered for him by the sight of the second long panel of oak and varnish groaning against the weight of the platters that had been set down upon it.

Rolls of ham and smoked fish, probably mackerel he thought at a guess; massive cheeses, bowls of mixed vegetables either mixed together as salads or separate, huge hunks of bread in all different shapes, sizes and colours, troughs of dip and crisps to dunk in it – all these and more wonderful things were piled upon the sturdy wood and how it was bearing up Big couldn't have said. _Enough there to feed the five thousand, so they should be able to cater for me at least_; it seemed true, though as he watched on he saw that even now the armadillos had a bit of a system going to avoid the whole thing devolving into a complete free-for-all. All the plates and cutlery were, he noticed, perched on the table-end closest to the door; therefore anyone who wanted to get something having come down from upstairs had to start at that point and work their way up the table, gathering what they wanted as they went. It was such a simple yet elegant system that even those who had already entrenched themselves at the eating table were sticking to it as well, joining the back of the line as they came in search of seconds, thirds or, Big hid a smile as it seemed that more than a few of them were walking at a much more sedate pace than normal, even courses after that. All this passed through his mind in a heartbeat; in the next instant he was dogging Mightys' heels towards the table, the promise of all the delicious meat and wine there rendering almost everything else secondary as his stomach growled – it had been a long time since breakfast. _And it has, in more ways than one_; somehow, though he couldn't forget it in its entirety much as he'd have liked to, the altercation with Stefan this morning seemed a lot more distant than it had previously and for that he was grateful; the last thing he wanted right now was to have that sort of memory nipping at his mind like a shoal of piranha.

"Grab a plate Big", the voice stirred him from his memory and it was a timely reminder indeed; as he nodded, smiling and accepting the white oval dish Mighty passed his way, the cat waited until he was certain she had her back to him and was engrossed in picking what she wanted from the display before her before he thought again; _and, though I might be mistaken I'm certain I'm not, one of the main reasons I'm not dwelling on that is simply because of you Michelle. You stood up to him at least as much, probably even more so than I did – you've got to take the plaudits for this one I can tell you. Come on, let's eat now_; reaching across, he plucked a handful of grapes from the fruit platter nearest him at the same time as his girlfriend, having just sawn from one of the massive loaves of bread a slice thick enough to act as an emergency door-stop should the need arise, picked up a knife dripping with butter that she proceeded to slather one side of the bread with, not aware of the cat's eyes on her back as they softened in benevolence; _and see where we go after from there after that_.

XXX

"Hey, Emmie, over here", the shout caught the attention of all three of them though the one it was aimed at was first off the mark; almost before her younger brother had pulled the seat out for her, Emily had parked herself in it, her daughter close enough on her heels to snag the one just to the other side as Big, bringing up the rear, was left without a place to sit; _oh well, probably for the best – after all, space is at a premium and I take up too much of it as it is_;

"Sorry Big guy", Paula's voice brought him back to earth as the squirrel snickered, "no room at the inn for you".

"Just as well I don't drink then isn't it, although", memory twigged by the reminder the cat suddenly realised he had a score he could settle now, "this evening that may well change; Emily", she looked up, all of a sudden not liking the mischief in the cat's face, "I reckon you'll be owing me a round or two either tonight or tomorrow; come on, you were there when most of them were slack-jawed, or do you want me to name them as well?" _I was as well_; suddenly cottoning on to what he was on about Emily was forced to concede that he was right about this; _most of them were staring like there was no tomorrow, me included first time I saw him_.

"Okay, okay, I know when I'm beaten", even as Big smirked in victory Sam had to clap a hand to his suddenly throbbing ear, looking over at his sister heartbrokenly as Paula snorted with laughter in the background, "and that was for helping him win – I'm out of pocket because of you, now how familiar does that sound?"

"Far, far too familiar for me"; it appeared Sam was still too shocked by Emily's cuff to answer so Paula did it for him, the squirrel shaking with the giggles even as she looked for answers, "but which line did he put one of those clumping great feet of his over this time?"

"I'll tell you later", Emily answered with a world-weary sigh before finally noticing a very important subtraction from the normal equation of her youngest brother's family, "hang on, where's your little'un?" Finally getting his tongue back into gear, the other armadillo answered for his partner, still obviously miffed after getting a cuff around the head for a reason he wasn't sure of,

"Got the baby-sitting club looking after her; she'll be all right, they know where we are". Following his finger, both Mighty and her partner chuckled a touch, Emily being able to keep her dignity slightly better and giving only a gracious smile as she beheld what her youngest sibling was pointed out.

In the middle of the children camp, surrounded by what looked to be a concentrated knot of the young armadillos all sitting with shells and tails pointed outwards like a protective shield barrier, all three could just about make out the small form of Jess crawling around animatedly from lap to lap, cuddling up to each of her cousins as she reached them. Though they couldn't accurately hear what was being said over the din of other conversations going on around them, it never seemed that the baby was ignored; as each of the youngsters felt sticky little fingers start to pry their way onto their knee, without exception they abandoned their own feasting and drinking to entertain the youngest of their company – at every stop Jess got at least a few minutes in warm arms and several kind, jokey words, sometimes even a crumb of bread, a sliver of cheese or, and Big was almost certain her parents didn't approve of this, a drop or two of fizzy pop sneaked to her, and it didn't look like she was refusing too many of such treats either. Afterwards, as she struggled to be free once more, she was set back on the ground to repeat the cycle once more, crawling towards another target in the circle and take in some more of the Christmas spirit of peace and goodwill to all men and Mobians.

"Wow"; Big could say nothing, he was too busy trying to keep tears from his eyes as he beheld the scene unfolding and was thus extremely grateful when Mighty spoke for him, a laugh rather than a sob in her voice, "you've got them well-trained".

"Better than I've managed with anything back home, and I mean anything", Paula answered, a very direct glance sent Samson's way as the armadillo huffed, folding his arms as he resented being the butt of the jokes from both his partner and his elder sister, "still, you've not done too bad yourself there girl – the way Derek's been telling it the Big man over there's at your beck and call when it comes to your back and shell".

_Oh has he now?_; Mighty scanned the room around her but was unable to pick out the grey shell of her lovingly-hated cousin; _well, he'll get what's coming to him when we get to the horses tonight – thanks for the lessons there batgirl_;

"I'd like to think so", Mighty answered slowly, diplomatically as she tore a mouthful from the sandwich she'd made, swallowing it quickly to as she suddenly thought how to answer her aunt at the same time as not rub Big up the wrong way, difficult as that feat actually was to achieve most of the time, "but chances are even he can't hear me from Angel Island; it's a long way up you know?"

"I didn't actually; any idea how high exactly?" Paula commented idly, her partner also taking an interest in the subject, "I'd love to go there someday".

"Well they're building an airport for sometime in the new year, maybe you'll be able to hop up and visit some time. Got some great digs you know", with visions of how far Paula would be driven up the wall by Vector and Charmy torturing her funny bone Mighty had no idea how she kept the smirk off her face as she finished demurely, "be happy to have you over, as long as one of you doesn't mind kipping on the couch that is". Samson shook his head as much as he was able to, an air of official importance suddenly pervading the air around him that caught Big, still stood up and eating with one hand as he held the plate in the other, a little by surprise – after all, everything he'd seen from this particular armadillo so far had suggested someone who very rarely, if ever, took himself anything like seriously,

"Sorry Mighty, no can do – got rules and regulations you see. Can't let the animals on the settee, sends out the wrong signals you know?" As the target of his directed glance slitted her eyes murderously and clenched a fist Mighty winced; _wrong signals maybe – danger signals certainly…_ Fortunately though, Paula seemed to keep the lid on her temper to just about below boiling point and merely glare back, speaking from between clenched teeth in a voice that would have frozen a blast furnace solid,

"You are really riding for the hiding to end all hidings, you know that?"

"No but thanks for the heads-up", Samson said genially before ranking back on a pair of imaginary reins, "whoa Nellie!" Big had to put the rest of his sandwich back down on his plate, covering his face with one hand as his entire body shook with laughter, Mighty on the seat in front of him in a similar state though thankfully for the pair of them Paula didn't notice. The squirrel appeared to be doing something akin to meditating – her eyes were closed and looked like her lips were moving soundlessly, though Big was under no illusion that inner peace and tranquillity were about the last things on her mind at this time,

"You", her voice was so low that Big was sure the stone beneath his feet quivered, "are really going to get it one of these day".

"Really?" Samson had a clueless look on his face before turning in his chair, looking back at the baby-sitting circle where by pure serendipity Jess was clearly visible, being held up by one of the older children present and waving her arms and legs in delight, "thought you'd already given it to me once, or was that one of those blink-and-you've-missed-it moments?"

No more than a fraction of a second later, as Emily disintegrated hopelessly and Paula's hands fixed themselves around her partner's stoutly-muscled neck, her brush ruffled up to fever pitch as she attempted to throttle the life from the armadillo next to her, Big managed to hold himself together enough to lean down and whisper in Mighty's closest ear,

"Hundred-buck question Might", blinking back her blurry vision, Mighty fixed her boyfriend with a questioning look as he inclined his head slightly to the side, "how are those two…", he tailed off, suddenly closing his eyes and grinning widely, "…in fact, don't answer that – they already remind me far too much of another happy couple we both know, know who I mean?" The armadillo laughed, even more so as her aunt's tail collapsed onto her, all the squirrels' fight drained out of her as Samson finally linked his arms around her back, whispering sweet nothings into her ear and holding her close, just like she'd seen another Mobian do a hundred times or more,

"Oh yeah", just for a minute Mighty's mind wandered away and upwards, raising its glass towards where the pair of guardians were probably already following through and making last-minute tweaks to their Christmas Day plan, "and with any luck, they'll soon be having the same sorts of fight these two are, over a third member of the family".

"One that's not green and been sat on the same spot for most of its life?" Mighty nodded, the thought in her eyes deepening as she recalled one of the few 'girl-talks' she and Rouge had shared together when neither Knuckles nor the rest of the Chaotix had been present,

"Oh yeah", absent-mindedly she wolfed down another mouthful of sandwich, not even noticing the taste of the food nor the force of absolute certainty she'd packed into her voice, "definitely not that one", her voice dropped lower, gaze locking directly onto Big's with a ferocity that terrified him for a second as she finished her rock-solid prediction,

"Not any more".

XXX

As time swept slowly on in its usual stately and imperious way, it was only when Big leant downwards to pursue an escapee olive that had rolled off his plate and caught a glimpse of his partner's wristwatch that he realised how long it had actually been. _Quarter to nine_; unfortunately he hadn't been able to see the time it had been when Derek had shaken him back from the land of sleep so he had no idea at how long he and the rest of the assembled Mobians had been as they were, grazing from the table as the want took them but, by now, spending most of their time just talking, moving around to relatives they had yet to converse with fully during the holiday thus far as they all sat around the table together. Still, the cat reasoned in his mind, time really was getting on and he was still in the dark about what was supposed to be going on later tonight and, with that in mind, he leaned across to whisper when he was sure Mighty wasn't otherwise engaged,

"Might, seen the time recently?" The armadillo turned and regarded him quizzically for a second before catching on what he meant; looking downwards at her wrist Mighty realised what the cat was on about and held up a hand to allay his questions,

"Yeah, don't worry; come about nine we'll get rid of all the chaff and go from there", with a slight smile and a teasing glance she set up the last part of her statement as a challenging question, "reckon you can last that long?"

"Oh yeah", the cat replied with his own, equally challenging grin, "you should know, you've seen me sit in one spot for hours on end with nothing but a role in my hand, waiting for something to bite. Compared to that, fifteen minutes is nothing". And having said his piece, the cat simply sat back in his seat aware of Mighty's eyes on him the whole time, and seemed to settle back into something akin to a doze, merely waiting for these last few minutes to pass and allow the last mystery of this armadillo family gathering to be made clear to him.

A voice in his ear stirred him merely a few minutes later, however; Mighty tugging on his sleeve and nodding towards something at the entrance to the room itself,

"Huh, looks like you're not the only one eager to get things started". Following her gaze, the cat saw the main door that led out of the room now fully opened, two immediately recognisable figures standing in the entranceway as an unmistakable clamour suddenly filled the air, Bekka shouting even above the ringing tones of the bell she held in one hand and was shaking vigorously,

"Right, tha's it, lass bells", suddenly pinching the metal to quiet its tones she cast her gaze towards where the vast majority of the children still sat, many of them already stifling yawns as the hour and the vast amounts of fine food had taken their toll on their abilities to remain awake, "all tha'wee ones, off tae yer beds an' leave us old'uns in peace". _I see_; digesting what she'd said Big felt himself smile as he turned towards where Mighty had just sat down once more – even from the look on his face the armadillo could tell something was up; that smirk promised nothing good that she could see,

"I take it whatever happens next isn't for young, delicate ears to hear and innocent eyes to see?" Mighty favoured him with a basilisk glare even as she answered gratingly,

"Something like that", she managed to force out between clenched teeth, cursing the world in general for embarrassing her like this before, in an instant, it made up its debt to her and Big was distracted by the whispers from behind him. Mighty milked the short breathing space for all it was worth as her uncle came to his feet, finally wrestling down Paula's protests enough to explain his reasons,

"No, I'll do it; out the two of us I'm the one who can set up the monitor in less than half-an-hour, now you settle down", though he couldn't be sure, the cat was under the impression that Paula would have loved to fight her corner on this issue but was unable to for the simple reason that her partner was correct, "just as soon as I find her, I'll tuck her away in bed. Now", looking around, Samson began to rove the room in the hunt for his errant daughter, "where'd she jet off to?"

"You mean her?"

Big almost jumped at the small voice from behind his seat; trying to look over his own shoulder at the noise, the cat just about managed to see the top of an armadillo's shell as well as a feature much more distinctive; lavender hair rippling, Mina stepped back as her companion stepped up and, a second later, Jess was in her father's arms and contentedly sucking her thumb. The elder armadillo took a minute to lean down and touch noses with the baby before turning to the other youngsters who'd looked after her so well,

"Thanks Ed, tell the others you did a fantastic job looking after her, and just between you and me", Sam's head dipped lower even as his voice rose, "you two make a very pretty couple".

"Eww!" The reaction was immediate; both youngsters sprang apart as though the other was a dog that had rolled in something unmentionable, Mina in particular vocal in her disgust while Edward, almost the mirror image of his effervescent brother, simply clammed up and scrutinised the floor, "uncle that's a horrible think to even think – never, not in a million years…"

"I know, for goodness sake", the elder armadillo shook his head as though regretting he'd ever made the comment in the first place, "I didn't mean anything by that, just playing around. Anyway, both of you come with us – unless I've got it hopelessly wrong or you've unearthed the secret of eternal youth I'm right in guessing neither of you are over sixteen yet?" Mina shrugged, Big rotating his head and twisting in his seat to watch the mongoose depart, just behind her uncle and with Edward bringing up the rear, the armadillo still saying nothing as they all approached the door and the figure that stood there, a tray of…in fact, what was on the tray he was holding? _Pointless guessing_; and it was – he had no idea; _not when I've got someone with me who's sure to know_;

"What's Wull holding up there Mighty? Looks like glasses of milk".

"You're not far wrong Big", it was actually Emily who answered him as her daughter had her mouth full of grapes at the time, "put it like this – short of bopping them over the head with a truncheon or drugging them up to the eyeballs with sleeping pills, it's the best damn way of getting anyone too young to be at the races to sleep through the night".

"That so?" The cat looked back at where the manager of the Highland Steppes was handing out what looked like little tumblers of white liquid to each of the younger armadillos who filed past him, a kindly goodnight on his lips as he bade farewell to each of his younger guests, most of whom were accompanied by parents to make sure they were well tucked in for the night. Even as he watched on, Sam reached the taller human in the line and, after exchanging a few words the cat didn't have a chance of hearing at this distance, snagged one of the tumblers, obviously intending his daughter to sip at it on the journey upstairs; _hmm, wonder if mum could use this – after all, the gruesome twosome have never been able to get to bed easily_;

"Any idea what's in it?" To his equal parts surprise and hope, Emily nodded, replying in an off-hand fashion,

"Oh yeah, he tells each of us when we hit sixteen, then we don't need it any more; we get to stay up and play cards all night instead. It's something like two-parts full-fat milk to one-part double cream, warmed up and with a tot of whisky splashed in for good measure".

"And it works", Mighty cut in, vigorously nodding her head, "take it from me, hits you about fifteen minutes after it's slid down, you just go out. Even got him to make me some a few years ago, remember when I was really coming down with something and we couldn't get hold of any hickory nuts?" She shared a glance with her mother and Emily nodded, taking up the story as Mighty backed her up with a series of nods in all the right places,

"Yeah, she wasn't a hundred percent well then, she was seventeen at the time. Anyway, she couldn't stay at the table more than an hour, hour and a half; she was coughing herself raw and disturbing everyone else, not like she had much of a choice, so we put the game on hold while Wull heads to the kitchen and whips some up. She downed it all in one; Stefan had to virtually carry her upstairs, it went straight to her head".

"Believe me I was away and gone". Mighty finished, making Big chuckle,

"And as far as I can tell you've never really come back", he said silkily, making the armadillo scowl before he moved on to the next of his queries, "so, we've got the little ones out the way, what happens now? I've figured out it's a card game of some sort, but what have horses got to do with anything?"

A chuckle, from his other side this time, made all three of them pause; seeing both Emily and Mighty looking past him, Big joined their consensus and twisted in his seat to find himself face to face with Paula again, the squirrel stood up as she causally balanced the core of the apple she'd just demolished in the palm of one hand,

"You know", she tilted her head backwards after giving them all a small smile, wandering backwards into her memory as she saw something once more in her mind's eye, "I remember asking that very same question; want to know what Sam told me?"

"As long as it's nothing rude", Emily answered for her trio, knowing how coarse her brother could be at times, especially when his partner was concerned – Paula merely chuckled once more before grabbing a handful of Big's closest arm, yanking softly on the thick fir there even as she spoke,

"He said 'well make yourself useful and help clear the table and you'll find out all the quicker', and you know something, for once in his life he was right. So"; _I get the feeling I've been diddled here_; despite the indignant thought in his mind Big was smart enough to take a cue and stood up, a little heartened as he saw Mighty doing likewise, "stir those huge stumps of yours and give us a hand to clear up, and it'll all be made clear".

"Gee thanks", the cat said with heavy fatalism, reaching forwards to hoover up loose plates and bowls that had long since had the food they contained consumed and devoured the ravenous horde that had preyed on it, "Mighty, I'm holding this on your head"; _oh are you now?_; she put her hands on her hips and stared darkly at the cat as a hint of a smile played on his lips, "if what happens next isn't up to scratch, you're the one who's making up for it, got it?"

"No, but if you try anything the only thing I'll be giving you is a good hiding", she said sardonically, Big backing away theatrically as she raised her fist before it dropped, almost of its own volition, reaching forwards instead, taking some of the plates he'd gathered up. Their fingertips touched for an instant, the contact supernovaed through both of them for the sweetest of seconds before it was broken as they both turned away slightly; even as they focussed on the task at hand, however, their minds were elsewhere, trained on the other as their bodies went through the motions to clear a table and a room. They thought of little else, and to have no other concerns, no other imaginings or wants running through their minds to cloud the scene before them, was a rare and magical form of peace to enjoy.

XXX

As he came back up from the kitchens for the last time the sight that met the his eyes was completely removed from anything he'd thus far seen; apparently, for the first time since he'd been here as far as he could remember, which of course was all of it, neither of the two main tables of the Steppes' main eating hall were being used. Instead, all the action was taking place at the top table and the more elderly members of the family had all retreated from the wood a few inches as it appeared something like a green tablecloth had been laid over the top of the table itself; _is this going to be like a poker table then?_ That would have been doable, he'd played before and knew all the rules but even as the thought crossed his mind it crossed swords with another, equally as pertinent question – if a tournament like this was taking shape before him, how were they all going to get a seat?

"Ah, brill", Emily, who had been behind him delivering the last of the condiments to the kitchens, now moved forwards, "just round up the rest of the cartel and we can get started", she took a few paces forwards before seeming to remember who she was with; Big could almost see the recrimination spreading outwards through her, starting in her face and trickling down from there as she shook her head at her own impulsiveness overriding her normal business senses of both logic and propriety, "I'm sorry Big, I should have explained this better".

"Don't apologise, you're just in a bit head-over-heels as my mum would say", the cat accepted genially, stepping up behind him and patting her closest shoulder softly, "so, what's the plan for the rest of the night then?" Emily chuckled, answering even as her eyes darted hither and thither, trying to pick out the other two she needed to get herself ready for the power struggle ahead,

"Tonight and most of tomorrow morning more likely", she corrected him before giving up on trying to complete her task unaided and glanced up at the massive cat beside her, "anyway, before anything else goes on we need to track down my husband and your girlfriend – got any news for me up there?"

Stretching to his full height, Big found it easy to pick out Stefan's distinctive grey shell out in the crowd, though he did take care to make sure the shell he'd spotted wasn't in any way marked before whistling through to the other armadillo. As always, as he ploughed towards them like a bulldozer and other armadillos made tracks to get out of his way, Emily took the lead in greeting her spouse,

"Hello Stefan, seen our daughter about?"

"Not recently", the grey-shell replied in his normal acerbic tone and Big felt his self-resolve start to wilt; _and I'm going to be teamed with you for how ling now?_; suddenly the grey eyes arced upwards – before Big could react, Stefan spoke again, "though, if we stay where we are, she'll doubtless be with us soon. Like many other things master cat, she seems to gravitate towards you more than anything else in the vicinity". Much as he'd have liked to take offence, for the sake of familial harmony Big bit his tongue and kept quiet until, with a rush of caught breath, he was able to lean down and whisper,

"Incoming", to the two waiting parents. Typically, before either of them could react, their daughter reached them, bustling over with a burning intensity and anticipation blazing in her eyes,

"Right, we're set up; come on quick, Nessie's about to draw the horses".

"Okay, okay, keep your hair on, not that that really affects you that much", Emily answered quickly, trying to keep her dignity better than her daughter though Big couldn't help but notice her pace pick up as she raced along the trail Mighty had laid down, "well, you want to try and drag her back?"

"Not particularly", answering his wife's question the only way he feasibly could, Stefan made to move off as well; he might have paused and tried to glance backwards, seeing if Big was still standing still, stunned by the speed at which things had moved on and tried to claim a one-up that way but in this he was to be disappointed; _though, going on what I saw, and felt earlier_; with his shell blocking Big's vision, the armadillo gently rubbed his bruised solar plexus and half-scowled, half-smiled at his conclusions; _I don't suppose I should feel all that surprised – by now I'm sure almost nothing she can do could possibly be a surprise to him._

XXX

"Okay then Big", even as he pulled out chairs for both Mighty, her mother and himself, Stefan already at the table and apparently waiting for the rest of his family to join him as he reserved a place at the table for them, the cat found himself addressed by his partner, "I know you've probably figured out some of the background to what's going on, but just as soon as we've got the place set up you'll find out properly when we play a ghost hand or two".

"Okay", as long as he wasn't going in completely blind, the cat reasoned he could live with that; _though there are a couple of things I'd like to know…_; "but just one thing, why are we, or rather, why's everyone else in family groups?"

"That's part of the background, we're all representing a racing cartel", Mighty explained, obviously moving into her element and loving every minute of it as Big merely looked perplexed, "this game's called Newmarket, it's after a fairly famous old racing town in England somewhere, and the cards are going to be like a horse race. We bet on them and, if you laid the right card you get some money back, and if you lose your whole hand first you get all the money on the bottom row, and…"

"Basically", more out of shock than anything else Big sat up and took note as Stefan's tone slit smoothly through Mighty's excited explanations, "it's a game more easily played than explained. Look here", luckily, the cat's great height meant he had to do little more than crane his neck to get as good a view as the armadillo sat a little in front of him, "we're about to get underway; she always does the honours before you ask, old family tradition, though it'd get done a lot faster if she delegated the responsibility to someone a little more sprightly and with better joint conditions".

Almost without meaning to Big caught Emily bristling from the very corner of his eye, the wife of the armadillo doing the insulting railing against his casual slander as were, he noticed with a great deal of satisfaction, most of the others present, a concentrated beam of malice directed solely at the one member of the family who seemed to be able to get up the noses of everyone equally. However, there was one omission in that litany of fury, all the more noticeable in its absence as it was the one Stefan's barbs had been aiming to skewer; as her one good hand slowly peeled the cards one by one from the deck her paralysed hand clutched in a rigid grip, Nessie merely smiled beneath her loosely-attached oxygen mask before giving her answer,

"But speed is no matter here Stefan", the grey-shell in front of Big's vision suddenly sat up, not used to being answered back, "since we're still a cartel short it matters not if I take five minutes or five years; until Wull and Bekka join us the game will not begin, is that clear?"

"As it always is". _Must just be the age_; somehow even Stefan, obnoxious and quarrelsome as his attitude was in general, could not keep every hint of reproach out of his voice, couldn't quite hide the fact that he'd been well and truly put in his place by someone a lot older and more worldly-wise than he was. And it seemed Nessie wasn't through with him just yet either,

"Good", she took another breath of the artificially oxygen-rich atmosphere beneath her mask, the appliance thankfully not dampening her croaking speech too much, "just though you might have forgotten the rules yourself for a minute there – you'd be in no position to explain Newmarket to a complete novice if you haven't got a handle on it yourself, it can get quite complex".

There was no answer and no-one was surprised at this, least of all Big himself; in every other face he could see the same fight raging as there was present in his – it was so tempting to break into a grin, maybe even chuckle with a laugh at Stefan finally being given his well-deserved comeuppance but, at the same time, there was the knowledge that not admitting this almost sadistic joy and instead showing the grey-shelled armadillo the one emotion he loathed above all others, that of sympathy and pity, would be the ultimate way to strike back at his cold, pseudo-emotionless core and wind him up no end. Stefan's indignation was so palpable he could almost taste it but he had no get-out clause; Stefan had brought this on his own head and tripped over his own colossal pride, now he paid the price for it off his own back – in the end, confronted by that which he hated so much, he was forced to perform the action that Big knew, instinctively knew, stuck in his craw more than anything else to make it stop,

"I know it can", his tone was colourless, void of anything that could have been possibly wounded by other people's comments, words or actions, "my, apologies Vanessa, my comments were, a little rash".

"More haste, less speed you might say"; _you are so damned lucky and you don't even know it_; folding his arms the cat set his glare flaying into the back of Stefan's shell – he'd seen the malicious glitter in Nessies' eye for a split-second before she'd blinked and snuffed it out; _she could have made you pay a lot worse than that – if it had been my mum, or grandma for that matter, you'd tried to pull a stunt like that with you'd have got it both barrels and no holds barred_; "still, you've a lot to grow up and learn before you get to my age, and we're not here to fight, so let's put this to one side and…", her thumb caressed the card it was rested on and, a second later, the jack of clubs came to rest on the green felt that had been laid over the table surface,

"…get the horses ready to ride".

After Stefan's _faux pas_ there was only silence; as the minutes ticked by uncounted Big watched on as the solitary card Nessie had plucked from the deck was joined by the ace of hearts, then the queen of diamonds and finally the king of spades – after these four cards had been found Nessie set the deck down, apparently satisfied. _How's this going to work then?_; try as he might to figure it out, with his chin in his hand Big was utterly flummoxed as to how this game was to progress; _with this many of us – how can we get a game with only these four cards?_ His brainwork was so intense that he didn't actually notice Mighty knocking his arm until she almost tore out a clump of his coat; stifling his sudden flare of pain and shock, Big looked down as the armadillo whispered under her breath,

"Those are the horses, those four", returning his attention to the table, the cat watched as someone leaned over Nessie's wheelchair and quickly arranged the quartet of high-value cards in a parallel line along the table's centre, almost directly opposite from where the cat was sat, "being put out in the paddock now, ready to race. We use two decks in this game, we have to…look", typically, just as he opened his mouth, Mighty pointed out the point she was trying to make, "Gav just got it for her, now we're ready. Nana always deals the first hand, it's tradition, the eldest always play the first round, and it goes down in age order for the next hands, understand?"

"I think so", Big answered a second later, mentally computing that information and making sense out of it as he noticed the his girlfriend had been exactly correct – there was now another deck in Nessies' frail but capable paw, though curiously she neglected to but the first deck with the four missing cards, the 'horses' Mighty had called them, away. _Maybe so she won't forget to put them back at the end?_; it was a reasonable suggestion and, not wanting to get bogged down in questions at this early stage, Big let the point rest for now as Nessie began, in her own slow, methodical way, to deal out the cards from the new deck.

_The whole deck?_; as Stefan picked up the cards before him Big wondered that the whole pack, less the jokers, had been used in the dealing; _mind you, with the number of cartels we've got that doesn't seem too many cards each, about five at the most_. As the armadillo in front of him made a neat fan before him with the cards he'd received, Mighty suddenly piped up with a low whisper,

"Nana gets two hands there Big; see", dragging his attention from the cards held by her father and looking across, the cat raised his eyebrows as it appeared that Nessie had indeed dealt herself two hands, though only appeared to be looking at one of them, "this is important; the way it works is that she can choose to drop her first hand and switch to the second one, but once she has done she can't switch back. This makes it a bit more likely that she can get one of the horses in her hand".

"I get it, but what's so important about them?" The armadillo smiled,

"That'll be important when Wull and his missus get here with the penny-pot; all you need to know for now is that the dealer starts unless he or she switches hands; if they do that it's the player on the right that gets the ball rolling. Ah, Nana's about ready…" Right on cue, the eldest Mobian present spoke up,

"I'll stick with this. So then, all ready?" When there was no reply, she took another breath from her mask and, slowly drawing one of the cards from the small fan of her cards, spoke to the table aloud,

"Three of diamonds".

Even as he watched the wrinkled, parchment-skinned paw lay the named card down, another voice off to the left called out,

"Four of diamonds"; _what?_; caught slightly off-guard the cat could only try to keep up as the flow of cards hitting the table came thick and fast,

"Five of diamonds".

"Six…", he looked forwards to see Gavin suddenly tap the armadillo in front of him, one Big didn't recognise immediately, and immediately the last part of the announcement was added, "…of diamonds".

"Seven, and eight of diamonds". There was a very tangible pause, letting Big finally catch his breath before David, who had laid the pair, swept his spectacled gaze across the table and spoke once more in a questioning tone,

"No nine? Very well then; nine of clubs". _Red to black, but only when the chain seems to break_; finally finding a little order in what appeared to be a rather chaotic game that he could see so far, Big tried to make the rest of the picture make sense even as different voices added their words to the mix,

"Ten of clubs".

"And", Derek gave a chuckle as he placed his last card down, "jack of clubs and out". Everyone else around the table seemed to give a disgusted tut or hiss, but Big kept his eyes on the panther as he reached forwards and firstly tapped the relevant horse he'd put down, hen drew his fingers in a line across the top of the cards as Big looked at them; _why'd he do that?_ It was a gesture that provoked only confusion from the cat, though thankfully as everyone else seemed to stand up and get ready to switch places his emotions were masked from the table at large, seen in fact only by a single Mobian out of all present,

"Don't panic, I was as bamboozled as you must be when I first started", Mighty consoled him before sloughing some of the concern from her voice and becoming a little more brisk, "but did you see how it worked, some of it at least?"

"I, err, I think so", Big's response was carefully measured and mouthed back to her, though such was the volume directed against David and his perceived lucky streak when it came to being dealt short straights of cards it was highly unlikely anyone else would have been able to listen in on a private conversation, "looked like if you were the last one to play a card in a sequence, then you have to lay another card of a different colour, is that right?"

"Almost", Mighty said encouragingly, "you're nearly there; the way it works is the dealer or, as I said, if the dealer swapped to the ghost hand then the Mobian to the right of the dealer starts the ball rolling with the lowest card in their hand, if it's a tie then lowest red. The rest of us add to the chain as much as we can, but you're right about the next part; if you're the one who put the last one down in a chain you start another one, but you have to start with the lowest card of a different colour in your hand".

"What happens if you don't have one? No cards of the other colour?" Big elaborated as Mighty drew a blank at his first question; she did, however, quickly rally after his explanation,

"You have to say so", she said with a shrug, "just say 'no red' or 'no black' and it passes to the guy on your right; everything goes clockwise in this game". _Hang on a minute_;

"That's a bit harsh", Big mentioned after a second of thinking about it, explaining as almost without realising it he'd swapped seats with the others of his cartel, "I mean, what if play switches to reds and all you've got in your hand is black?" Might shrugged,

"That's Newmarket for you – sometimes the horses just don't want to play. Anyway, you better make sure you've got the rules nailed this time around", it was Big's turn to quail at the mischief he could see in his partner's eye, feeling cold sweat start to form at the back of his neck as Mighty snickered ominously, "because after mum's gone around, the next hand's yours!" _Uh-oh…_;

XXX

_Well, that could have gone a lot worse_; though he hadn't won anything at all, Big was still relieved to hand over the cards remaining in his hand to Derek, the other grey-shell present at the table shot him a subtle wink across the table; _actually, when you're actually at the table it's not that hard to play. Looks like you were right Nessie_; for a split-second his hazel eyes sought out the armadillo matriarch and a smile flitted across his lips as he saw her waiting towards the back of her six-strong cartel, itching to play the next hand as much as the rest of her relatives who were currently on the sidelines must have been; _all friends here – no fighting here. It's a gentleman's game is the sport of kings_; turning away from the table, he made to move to the back of the line of his quartet of cartel-members before a tap at his side brought him up short,

"I know what you're going to say"; _good, because I was out of ideas there_; Mighty once more found herself grateful for Big's virtual six-sense of premonition, "I think I've got it all, but there's just one thing still puzzling me. Why do they all knock the horses they lay, and why does the first one out always rake the felt at the top of the cards?"

"Actually Big that's two things", just this once she'd caught him out and to his chagrin the cat knew she wasn't likely to let him forget about it any time soon, "but they've both got the same answer, and they'll be answered when the last pair get here. They always bring the penny-pot – Bekka always says it's to make sure we don't start without them, as if we would".

"Penny-pot?" It wasn't the first time she'd brought that word combination out together and Big would have commented as such had the armadillo not raised a hand to hush him, realising she was getting late for the latest meeting,

"Trust me, it'll all make sense", she could tell he wasn't entirely happy about this but for her sake he went with it, nodding and moving past to let her go past – she dallied just long enough, however, to say her final piece, a little more devil-may-care in her attitude and her flippant tone, "after all, what would Newmarket be if we couldn't all have a little flutter on the horses while we're here?"

_A little flutter?_; so there was money involved – this Big wasn't completely surprised by as, little as he knew about the racing of horses, he knew it was a game that either rich men or mugs took part in; _still, I doubt it'd be for much, and anyway you_; sliding into his seat behind Stefan he spared the back of Mighty's shell a mischievous glance for a moment; _didn't I hear that the guests never pay up here? So, win lose or draw, it doesn't matter to me really – after all, it'll be on your tab!_

XXX

The penny-pot, Big discovered about three hands later as, having finally finished the clearing up downstairs the last pair of players in this particular game joined them, was what looked to be an old china bulldog, a relic, Wull explained as he flipped it over and pulled the plastic plug from the bottom of it, of his old English home. As he turned it right side up once more and a veritable cascade of copper-coloured coins rained down on the table, the cat realised it was known as the 'penny-pot' for a very good reason – going on what he could see there was at least a few pounds sterling worth of pennies contained within it. Almost as soon as the clatter of currency had stopped, however, there looked to be a bit of a scramble forwards; eager armadillo fingers began picking their way into the pile, Emily's included,

"Come on", like a general rallying her troops she called over her shoulder, "we need our fifteen before the rest of this lot sweep 'em all up". _Suits me_; without further ado or restraint Big leant towards the table, his mighty mitts easily able to reach down and pluck a fistful of change from the tabletop; hastily counting it out, he realised he'd got a decent nine pennies and, thinking quickly, decided to announce it,

"Got nine here". Emily glanced up at him, respect evident in her eye as it seemed he'd quickly enriched the rest of his cartel,

"Okay, just need one more; ah-ah, nice try", with a deft motion she swiped a single coin from the rapidly-diminishing pile as Derek's hand, slightly slower to the punch, slunk away with a nasty glower, "but you don't get one over on your aunt that easy my lad. Okay, that's our lot…"

"Actually a bit more", Mighty admitted, counting off three of the coins resting in her palm and flipping them back into the centre of the table, "okay, now we're at fifteen, and Big", the cat pricked his ears, "you're the next hand at the table so you'd better pay attention to this – these are how we place our bets. You put one coin above the horses, one coin below the horses and one coin on a horse of your choice, got that?"

"I reckon so, ah", he snapped his fingers as something made a lot of sense all of a sudden, "is that why they were all tapping cards and pulling the felt earlier?" Mighty gave an enthusiastic nod; _knew it wouldn't take you long – you've always been sharp like that_;

"You got it; if you play one of the horses you get all the money on that horse; it's come in for you and you take the winnings. If you're the first one out, you've got a clean-sweep and you get all the money at the top of the paddock, understand? I know, you're about to ask about the bottom stack", she held a hand up, second-guessing his next question, "well that's won if someone beats the bookie; the way that works really is easier seen than explained. Okay, I reckon you're as ready as you'll ever be; good luck and just relax – no-one's going to shoot you if you don't win anything".

With a nod and smile, she directed him to the table once more and, with new trepidation stirring in the pit of his stomach as he realised the ghost hands were over and they were playing for real now, the cat nodded back, gave a weak smile and moved back to the hot seat at the table. Easing his way past Stefan as, like before, the grey-shell seemed disinclined to move his chair to make locomotion easier for him, Big retook his seat just as the dealing began to take place, noticing how the others were placing their bets; the three pennies between his fingers felt like lead weights as he slowly nudged two of them where they needed to go; the third one he deliberated a little more before finally making up his divided mind and shifting it over to rest atop the king of spades. Folding up his hand as the dealing finished, the cat tried as best he could to keep his face plain as he unfurled the card fan; _well, not perfect, but it could be worse – anyway, with a bit of luck_; just for a second his eyes flitted to the table and took note of the number of coins on one of the horses; _we could recoup our losses here, anything beyond that's just a bonus I suppose_.

"Six of hearts". Flicking his attention back to what he had in his hand, the cat felt his heart leap; hastily swallowing it back down, he cleared his throat as best he could and, laying out the next in sequence, played the first card he'd laid down all game,

"Seven of hearts". There was a second's silence and he dared hope he might go again before,

"Eight of hearts".

"Nine…" _Oh well, better luck next time – it's just a game after all_; with that thought now set firmly in his mind, the cat settled back in his seat and scrutinised his cards again, an idea beginning to swirl around in the nebula at the back of his mind as he suddenly saw, in this game, an opportunity to get something into the open that he hadn't had a chance to yet.

XXX

"And the bookie says", the was a tangible pause, all eyes on the card at the very top of the blue stack of cards, the deck Nessie had drawn the four horses from hours ago; with a sudden flourish the armadillo who'd dealt the deck out this round flipped it over, speaking as soon as she saw what it was, "the three of clubs".

"Arrgh", there was an agonised groan from farther up the table; Big had to bite back a snigger from the mortally-wounded look of Samson's face as the armadillo covered his eyes with one hand and let the other fall forwards, exposing the trio of card he hadn't been able to lay, "it's in my hand, I didn't play it".

There was a minor riot of good-natured ribbing and commiseration at his ill-fortune; as Big had discovered by now, at the end of the round the top card of what he now called the horses' deck was turned over as the bookie's card. If someone had played it, then their cartel scooped the bottom row of coins as they beat the bookie; if, however it hadn't been played, or was in the hand the dealer hadn't used, then the bookie's row kept the coins and no-one won, as Sam had just found out and was now being vigorously reminded by his partner,

"You and your bad luck", she hissed in his ear as he handed the cards in, thought there was a smile on her face as she tapped his arm, "at this rate we'll be going belly-up in a minute".

"Well at least we weren't the first", the armadillo retorted; a fair point, Big had to concede as he looked around the recently changed landscape of the playing table. Once a cartel ran out of money it did not, as the cat had first thought, get eliminated entirely – instead it fractured and the individual members of that cartel were absorbed by friends or neighbours, ensuring everyone could keep playing as long as they pleased. It had already gone midnight, of that the cat was sure, but he wasn't ready to call it a night just yet – after all, he had just helped the finances of his cartel by getting a horse home and landing a clean-sweep so they wouldn't want to lose his beginner's luck, and at the same time, there was the other reason he had for staying where he was for the moment,

"All right, all right", David, his cartel only just intact now, down to its last five or so coppers, spoke over the banter as he shuffled the deck, his turn to deal with Pockets and Lianne backing him up, the other two members of his triad, "settle down and let's see the next race off". With that he swiftly dealt out the whole deck and gathered up his own cards; with a look of disgust, however, he hastily set them down,

"I'm changing from that rubbish; you start Gavin".

"Nice", the slightly younger armadillo spoke as Paula suddenly stood up, the baby monitor at her elbow suddenly squawking, Jess obviously disturbed a little. Folding her cards face down on the table, the squirrel gave an apologetic, awkward grin,

"Sorry, I'll just see to her; Sam, you want…?"

"…to wait for you to get back – yes I do", the armadillo answered with an accepting smile, glancing around the table as everyone else seemed to settle back a little more, a short pause before the next round began, "come on, with my luck if I play two straight hands we'll be bankrupt before you get back. Go sort out her Majesty and then get the feather-duster you call a tail back down here". Luckily for the sake of expediency Paula didn't argue, merely crossing the hallway as light on her feet as she always was, pulled open the door at the entrance and disappeared through it quietly.

The unexpected recess allowed the cat to put the finishing touches to his plan at the same time as everyone else relaxed a little, folding down hands of cards as they exchanged some small talk with neighbours and other members of their family. Indeed, most of the talk seemed to be directed at the partner of the Mobian who'd just left to attend her baby daughter,

"So Sam, sorry I never got chance to talk to you earlier", looking up, Mighty's youngest uncle found himself being questioned by Lianne, "how's the business going so far? Started up the extension plan you pair dreamt up yet?" The other armadillo remained quiet for a few moments; Big thought it looked like he was putting a lot of consideration into his answer,

"Not as such, but that's just because I'm having to build most of the new cages and such-like myself before you start taking the mick about me not organising anything", he said, a scathing glance whipping around the table as he did so before he broke it off and continued, "but as for everything else it's all going well; last count we had about two-dozen mogs and eighteen dogs sharing space with us, eighteen-and-a-half if you count the missus". There was a collective intake of breath, Gavin wincing more than most even as his son chuckled in a threatening manner, pointing at the baby monitor now sat silently next to Samson's small cartel, the number swelled to four due to refugees from bankrupt horse-racers,

"Hey uncle", as Sam looked his way, he elaborated, "that thing's not two-way is it?"

"Huh? Oh no – you really think I'd have said something like that if there was even a chance she might have heard me?" He gave a wry smile and rubbed the side of his jaw, "hard as it might be to believe I'm actually not as dumb as I look".

"Right you are Sam, that is hard to believe", Derek said smirking, his top lip curled back into a smile and betraying a few centimetres of worn canine teeth before the panther spoke once more, a little more curious and fishing for answers now, "but perhaps you can answer me this. I heard, just from hearsay mind, that you were thinking of tying the knot with Paula sometime soon?" _No denying it this time_; and there wasn't – no-one could have possibly said that the armadillo's face didn't spilt into a grin half a mile wide as he kicked into life, actually going as far as to point Big himself out as even as he finished his thoughts off; _he looks happy as Larry about that_;

"True as true can be mate; those two over there were there when we said it. Well, you tell 'em", obviously Sam wasn't sure the rest of his family would believe him if he didn't have a couple of witnesses to back him up, "what did the pair of us say just before our little girl snatched Roddy's crown off his head and took it for her own?"

_Good point_; Mighty quickly glanced to her side, hoping Bog would be able to cover for her this time; _what did you say exactly, I haven't got a Scooby_; thankfully though, she could breathe a sigh of relief as it looked the cat was going to answer for the both of them and she knew he'd be in a perfect position not to leave anything important out,

"Well, after a bit of the usual arguing", there were a few chuckles at this, even Sam himself not able to resist a self-depreciating grin as he realised that yes, he and Paula did spark up a lot of the time even when they were trying to be friendly, "Sam said he was just waiting for her to give him the word to get the whole show on the road, so Paula set him a dare; I might not be sure but I think it was something along the lines of 'us married before Jess turns a year and a half old or I use your back a bobsleigh next year', am I right?"

"Close enough, can barely recall it myself truth be told", the armadillo in question said with a shrug before turning slightly more serious, "but yeah, I intend to get the deed done a long time before that deadline I can assure you. At least that way she can't keep reminding me of it every chance she gets".

"Not that anyone would blame her for that, knowing your memory", a new voice cut in; Big recognised it and was able to put face to name in almost the same instant, but everyone else had to turn in their seats to see Peg finish her harsh croak, eyes never wavering from her relation's younger features, "too much you don't remember Samson, how that fine young squirrel's put up with you this long even I don't know, and why she'd ever want your hand in marriage is completely beyond me". There was a vicious harrumph from somewhere further along the table,

"You're one to talk", finally shoving his way to the table itself, Reuben managed to clear some space for himself and look his wife dead in the eye, "look what you, by your own admission, settled with for a husband. And how long have you worn my ring now – going on fifty years if I'm counting right? So then, how can you look at those two young fire-crackers and wonder why they've fallen base-over-apex for each other – you know what they say, opposites attract". Peg's answer was a dirty look but, thankfully, before she could transfer any of that into a verbal form there was a cough from Nessie's chair and everyone immediately fell silent; she out of the lot of them had kept her eyes on the far door the whole time and now that alertness came to the fore. As she slipped the door shut behind her, Paula sauntered back over to the table and retook her seat, looking around engagingly as she picked up her cards,

"Sorry about that, she's all tucked in now for the rest of the night – must have been all those sweets I didn't see her get for supper giving her a bit of a bad belly. Did I miss anything – in fact", she answered her own question after no more than a second's looking, shaking her head as she realised an honest truth, "don't answer that, I'm under no illusions that anything I did miss I'm better off not knowing. So then", suddenly her hand had move and a single penny was dancing up and down her knuckles at breakneck speed, the squirrel not even looking at her outburst of dexterity as she smiled, "Gavin, get them under starters order and then just set them off; something tells me this one's going to be my race".

XXX

_Good, a nice long round_; that was important and had been a crucial centre plank of his plan, if only because it mathematically increased the chances of someone having played the bookie's card and thus, enable him to get what he needed to get off his chest out into the open without too much duress. Even as Big looked on, apparently impassive as far as a casual observation would have seen, there was a triumphant call as, with an elaborate flourish, Gavin twirled his last card around his fingers before placing it, softly and with a great deal of mock reverence, onto the fuzzy felt of the table, atop his pile of smaller cards,

"Jack of hearts and out", there were several grumbles of malcontent as he smirkingly scooped the top row of coins, winking at the Mobian to his left as he did so, "bet you wish you never let me start now don't you Derek? Need a loan?"

"No we don't", Lianne answered for the panther, gritting her teeth at her insufferable in-law, "I've got the next hand, and I'll tell you now it will be mine, got it?"

"Be that as it may", David's voice rolled over the pair of them, hushing them into a state of semi-compliance at the same time as soothe Big's already ragged nerves, "the bookie may yet make this one mine; let's see", there was a second's pause as he reached for the deck of blue cards, the top one lifting up as Big tensed, already letting his recall accelerate and relive the race that had just been and gone with alarming alacrity – as soon as he saw the picture on the front of the card the panther turned over he knew,

"Nine of spades – hmm, not sure about that, think it…"; _heh, guess you were right Sam – she is a good-luck charm to you_;

"Nicely played Paula".

As he'd expected, the squirrel's head raised as she heard her name; letting out a slow breath, tinged with the hint of a chuckle as the irony of his last thought reached him a little, Big simply looked across neutrally as she cocked her head quizzically,

"What you mean Big guy?"

"It's there", he nodded at the small pile of cards in front of her, aware at the back of his mind that he was gaining more and more of an audience as this went on; _just as well really – get this all over with at once, make it easier overall I suppose_; "fourth card down in your pile – you beat the bookie". _Is he having me on?_; not quite sure if the cat was setting her up for an oblique sort of fall she hadn't predicted, Paula nevertheless reached down and carefully began to sift through her played deck; a mere fraction of a second later, she felt her eyes widening; _I guess not_;

"How?" She was at a loss to explain it – crikey, she'd been the one to actually play the card and even she'd forgotten she'd put it down, how had he remembered, "how'd you know that?" As she raised the card for all to see, thoughts of the bookie's stack lost for the moment, her body language along with that of the family she'd soon be married into simply demanded an explanation – as Big simply gave a knowing smile, she felt her indignation rise until, with a word, he soothed it once more,

"I'll show you", he said simply, beckoning across the table as he did so, "Derek, you're dealing next correct?" He already knew he was; the question was redundant but seemed to help settle everyone else down as the armadillo nodded,

"Umm, yeah, but what's that…?"

"Get the cards, shuffle them up then hand the deck to me – sorry but the next hand'll have to be a dead hand, that okay with everyone?"

_So_; even as he'd named her non-armadillo aunt Mighty had had and inkling of what the cat was up to and now, as everyone else swapped glances with neighbours before giving a unanimous nod of affirmation, she thought she could see exactly where he was going with this one. All was still except for the steady drifting noise of a shuffled deck until, apparently satisfied, Derek leant forwards,

"Okay, that'll do, one more for luck though", he quickly cut the deck one last time and offered it forwards, "Em, pass it back…"; _how long you been room-sharing with him Derek?_; despite the circumstances of what she was seeing Mighty couldn't help but smile as her boyfriend simply made the last part of his request unnecessary; simply by leaning forwards and extending his arm he loomed over half the table despite having to reach over the top of her mother's shell to do so. Deftly plucking the fifty-two cards from the grey-shell's hand, she watched him settle back and quickly fan through them at his own pace, neither too fast nor too slow, before with a snap for pure theatre, he formed the large fan to a solid deck once more and offered it forwards. As Derek reached for it, the cat spoke to him, simple instructions that let him know exactly what was about to happen,

"Don't shuffle any more, just deal them face-up as I name them; should be eight hands, nine if you include the ghost, oh", as he let go of the deck, Mighty couldn't see his face but she'd have bet anything that his face was lit with a wry smile, "and before we start, sorry".

As Derek made ready to deal, the cat once more sat back into a pose Mighty recognised as what she called his 'contemplation'; it was the way he often looked before starting a new drawing, or before the first cast of his latest fishing expedition; a few seconds out where he made sure his memory was perfectly clear in his mind before beginning his new task. She virtually saw the seconds snail past in air so thick with apprehension and confusion that it was almost solid before Big's voice broke through it,

"Right then, the eight of spades". Everyone looked a little perplexed for a second before, with a sudden 'oh' as he recalled the part he had to play in the proceedings, Derek quickly flipped the top card off the deck to land in front of him. _All right then_; she knew logically she'd had no reason to fret – after all, she'd seen his perfect memory in action a hundred times before, was reminded of it in the most illuminating way possible every time she visited the guardians in their home outside Echidnopolis, where The End of the Hunt rested on their wall like a the perfect, endless sunset of a second beautiful sun, but emotionally she was never quite as sure, was always a little tense that this would be the one time his memory banks came up with a blank cheque. However, as the lacquered rectangle of plastic came to rest, eight shovel-like pictograms easily distinguishable on it's surface, she let herself breathe again; _from here, it's all academic_;

"…the four of hearts…the ten of spades…the queen of clubs…"

XXX

For the first revolution of nine, she could tell, they hadn't been all that impressed; after all, remembering the order of nine cards, even after just a quick glance, wasn't beyond the realm of Mobian comprehension. However, the looks on their faces as Big began the second cycle made the only other Mobian, aside from Big himself, who truly knew the secret of his success at games such as this, have to wrestle down a smile, and when the cat eventually finished with a flippant,

"…and last but not least, the seven of clubs", the expressions of bewildered wonderment was enough to force a cheep of laughter out of her. Shaking her head, Mighty flicked her eyes sideways to see her dad sitting dumbstruck in his seat; _now perfect or not, no way my memory's letting go of that one_;

"Help m'Boab", Wull muttered into the awestruck atmosphere before looking at the cat once more, "ye canna be richt; it's no'possible…" Big simply turned his head to regard him,

"You want me to do it again? I can do this all night if I have to".

"Er...nay lad", after a second's thinking the co-owner of the hostel shook his head, his glasses flashing in the light, "nay, bu' I wouldnae mind ye tellin' us'a how ye did it. Was it sum kind'a magic?" Big shook his head, regarding them all with an air around him that ranged somewhere between proud and world-weary,

"No Wull, no magic in me I can tell you. All it was was just something I was born with; you might as well all know it, I have a perfect memory", he took a second to let that sink in, a very good idea in Mighty's opinion – it had taken a long time for the very imagining of such of thing, to say nothing of understanding the potential bad point of such a seemingly wonderful gift, to even beginning to become apparent to her, "it is, as far as I've ever used it, completely flawless. I remember everything, quite literally everything, and nothing short of a good whack on the bonce and a dose of amnesia is going to make me forget it and", he gave a chuckle, looking around the table with a twinkle in his eye, treating it all as a joke rather than a solemn announcement, trivialising it to prevent the assembled congregation from treating him any differently than the had over the past week or so; _and I don't want them to – I've had one of the times of my life out here and nothing, least of all something like a little thing like that, is going to stop me reliving it again next year_; "fatal as it might be to say this, I don't think any of you lot can stretch up high enough to get a decent crack at between my ears".

She thought she could see understanding just start to dawn on a couple of faces here and there but, just to make things absolutely clear, Mighty decided it would probably be for the best if she made her statement here and now rather than waiting until afterwards to get her point across, the Chaotix member stood up tall and made her feelings on the matter plain as day,

"It's true", all attention immediately snapped onto her and for a second she thought she might quail – the instant she laid eyes on Big's broad back, however, seeing the cords of muscle in his neck ripple as he looked over his shoulder at her, all ideas of bottling it left her completely and she finished what she'd started to say, "I've seen this for a long time and what he's saying is absolutely the truth. Big's memory is absolutely crystal, so from now on you've all got no excuses", steel suddenly replaced softness in her gaze as she swept the table with an imperious gaze, her next words charged with challenge and promise, "nothing you say, do or mention, even in passing, is going to get out of his head if he catches wind of it, so as long as he's about no throw-away lines about anything and certainly no deliberate attempts to get rid of either of us, do I make myself clear?"

There was no chance of anyone missing who she'd aimed the last part of that comment at though, as always, Stefan seemed to remain studiously neutral in matters as inconsequential as the feelings of others. Mighty didn't so much as look at him, as far as she was concerned he wasn't worth bothering with; instead it was only when she heard someone else speak up, the tone carefully considered and, quite surprisingly, a little contrite, that she focussed on something other than her immediate flesh and blood,

"Okay my lovely, no offence ever meant", drawing her walking stick up to her knees, Peg inclined her head as much as she was able to in the general direction of her relation's partner, "you really should have said earlier if you were worried about being offended, or even not turned up at all, that might have been best for you". Big gave a gruff snort of laughter, planting his hands on his hips as the venerable armadillo made a token gesture of reconciliation towards him,

"Not as far as I'm concerned; come on, compared to a holiday with the rest of my pride this is absolutely nothing", his smile showed that he was genuinely not at all offended by anything that had happened at the Steppes so far, something that most of the rest of Mighty's family now they knew his reasons for wanting to stay out of earshot of trouble if he could avoid it, were grateful for, "besides, I've lived with it for long enough to know how to cope with anything by now"; _or at least_; his vision misted over for a minute, his mind no longer concentrated on the congregation before him, instead centred on the armadillo just behind him; _I do now someone opened my eyes and showed me how it could be done instead of just running and hiding like a coward_. Much as he'd have liked to though, he couldn't afford to be lost in a memory and instead blinked, turning his attention back to the table and tapped Emily on the shoulder in the same movement, "so let's keep this night of horses riding; budge up there Em, my hand now, and before anyone asks, no", his whiskers twitched as he smiled again, "I can't count cards after they've been shuffled properly, so there's no way I can cheat at Newmarket. Though I am sorry I lost you a pair of horses Derek". The named armadillo crossed his eyes confusedly before realising what the cat meant and tutted, picking up the exposed cards next to him with a regretful sigh,

"Just my luck that is; still, never know what the next draw will turn up do you? Come on everyone cards in, the magic show's over", suddenly brisk and business-like, he tapped the cards on the table, making his demands plain even as he shuffled the ever-growing pile as everyone threw in the hands Big had flawlessly second-guessed, "the Big guy's right – for the rest of the night, we ride like there's no Boxing Day tomorrow!"

XXX

"That", Big said before becoming pre-occupied with finding his balance again; only when he was sure his swaying was under control did he pick up the thread of conversation once more, "is a hell'fa game".

"Is good", Mighty agreed with him before giggling, sheer overwhelming tiredness rendering the pair of them almost drunken in manner as they began to make their way towards the foot of the stairs with rolling, tottering strides, Mighty tittering most of the way at some joke or other, only breaking off from her internal joke-fest to speak once more,

"Scho, see you bachere next year, yeah? I mean", she drew herself away from him and up importantly, not realising the finger she held aloft in a would-be pompous manner was actually her thumb, "withee card trick you pulled just now, they'll be begging f'more. What's time, by the way?"

"Dunno, you've got a watch on", Big pointed at her wrist, swaying alarmingly as the move left him slightly overbalanced; as he once more fought with gravity for control of his basic motor functions Mighty glanced at her watch, then stared at it harder, trying to get the annoying blinking numbers to swim into focus with her almost teary, red-rimmed eyes; _nah, no chance, but it is late, I'm sure I know as much as that_. It must have been late as well; even Nessie had gone to bed about a half-hour before the two of them had decided to call it a night, leaving only a hardened dozen or so in the feasting hall still glued to the fall of cards and clink of copper coins deciding their fates. Groping blindly for the stairs, Mighty heard more than felt herself touch the wall and then following it, the rough layout of even the hallway she'd spent every Christmas she could remember in lost on her sleep-deprived mind now. Luckily though Big seemed to have cottoned on to her method of locomotion having much less of a risk of falling and the two of them made a strange sort of conga line as they crept along the wall towards the stairwell, the question of how they were going to get up it in their condition one as yet unasked for the two of them. Though, as Mighty's hand at last found the corner of the wall with an exaggerated 'aha' from the armadillo herself, it was an interesting proposition that would demand an almost ingenious solution to overcome.

One almost-ingenious solution later, a sort of three armed walk whereby Mighty kept a tight hold on the banister and levered herself up one step at a time, while Big held onto the sides of her shell with both hands and provided a little support of her movements before lumbering up after her, almost dragged there by the armadillo's prodigious body power, the two of them flopped onto the first floor like a pair of beached whales, breathing in like walruses running a marathon before, as the first to recover, Big stood up, something tickling the very edge of his hearing and he looked around for the source of the noise muggily,

"Might?"

"Hmm?" Drained brain not quite recovered enough to hold a full conversation yet, the armadillo simply hummed back her reply; not put off in any way by this, Big continued,

"You hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"That", Big repeated, trying his best to follow his ears towards the ghostly sound he could have sworn floated out of the blackness before him as neither he nor Mighty had been able to find a light switch between them yet, "dis way I think". Realising he was leaving her behind the armadillo hurried to keep up at the same time as strain her ears,

"I can't hear anything Big, 'cept my bed – 'Mi'hee', it's singing to me; eh, wait though", she came to a dead halt, standing erect as now, closer to the source, she finally managed to detect what Big's radar-dish ears had heard from the off, "you might be right – wha'is it?"

"Dunno", the cat said, shaking his head like a elephant bothered by flies before taking another stumbling pace down the darkened hallway, "reckon we autta find out tho, Bekka mi' need to know about it".

"True, 's very true", Mighty said with a nod that made her feel dizzy for a minute, blood sloshing around in her head before she sorted it all out again and set about tracking down the mystery noise again, "reckon we're right way, comin' from a room?"

"'Swat I thought", Big confirmed a second later, both ears pricked up and almost leaning forwards on his head, homing in on the sound he was sure he'd nearly pin-pointed; _nah, scotta be this one_; "reckon it's here. You do the talking, think someone might be cryin'". Thinking about this statement as much as she was able to, Mighty tried to put the snuffling, slurping noise she could now plainly hear into context and realise that yes, overall Big's assumption was probably a pretty accurate one, though it was a bit…

"Strange", in all probability Mighty never did realise she was talking out loud by this point, "who'd that be at this time? Still", raising her voice a little, she strode past where Big backed off to make room for her before looking back at him, "better sort this out, after all, we're both adults here". Even as Big was thinking about a response to that statement, the armadillo put actions above words and, after a small, perfunctory tap on the door itself, grabbed the handle at the second time of asking and pushed the door inwards, peering into the darkness within and speaking in an unquiet whisper,

"Hello, who's in here? Anyone need cheering up?"

The sound of the trembling, obviously tearful reply banished Big's tiredness to a degree, memories of his two sisters sounding in similar straits, and his comforting of them, in his younger years helping him out in this regard, a spur Mighty didn't have as she took a blundering pace forwards into the room itself, seeking for the youngster who answered her,

"A…Auntie?" Big would have backed himself to recognise the voice under normal circumstances but right now he was simply too tired to be able to, instead simply following in his girlfriend's footsteps and, as a result, being close enough to hear the response to her next question,

"Yep, tha's me, auntis through and through – who's this, and where are you?"

"Eddie"; _thought it was you_; he'd almost had it as well, that was the aggravating thing but the young armadillo's voice had remained irritatingly just out of reach until he'd answered her question, "I, I had a b… a bad dream".

Only the younger armadillo clicking on a tiny night-light next to his bed, the small illumination throwing the silhouette of his relative into sharp relief, allowed Big to stop in time as Mighty came to a dead halt, arms akimbo as she stared down at the bed, not recognising the commotion behind her as Big frantically tried to kill his momentum before he was forced to flatten her.

"Nope, not settlin' for that, no way", she shook her head before striding forwards again, not taking her eyes off her nephew as she reached the end of the bed itself, "you can't have bad dreams at Christmus, they're no'allowed – wha' was it, anyway?" Having finally got himself back under control and regain his balance, Big pottered towards the end of the bed as well, taking care in his movements to avoid waking Edward's elder brother, the snore of whom still droned through the still air of the darkened room from his bed, opposite his younger siblings,

"Can't remember", like everything else he'd said so far, Ed's answer was short and straight to the point, barely able to look up at the two adults in his room now – surely he was too old to suffer from nightmares now, "just woke up; didn't want to go down, it's mum and dads night". _Hmm, okay_; Big had an idea, now came the hard part – putting it into practice without making the youngster in front of him even more scared of him than he already was; _right, take it steady and go from there_;

"You're quite right there Ed, it is", Big agreed genially, his voice as soft as he could make it while still being audible; he approached a little closer to the bed itself, Mighty retreating to a chair piled high with rumpled clothing as he placed one hand on the end post of the bed, "but, lucky thing this is, I know a way to get rid of those bad nightmares, no bother".

The armadillo didn't answer, in all honesty the cat hadn't expected him to – instead he pulled his bedclothes put to his chin, staring at the cat wide-eyed, wary in the company of a stranger, despite the comforting presence of his aunt close at hand. For his part Big simply took a look at the state of both of Edward and the bed he rested in; luckily as far as he was concerned only tears wetted the pillow, the sound of the child's crying that had drawn both him and Mighty into this room like moths to a candle flame. _Just as well really, the state we're in I'm sure trying to change a bed would be completely beyond even all three of us_; just thinking about how tired he was made him have to stifle a yawn before he reasserted himself, focussing on the most important goal he had here.

"Okay, well let's get this thing going and you back off to sleep then", gaining a little more confidence as Edward seemed to relax, Big slid around the bedpost he was leant on and settled on the end of the bed itself, talking all the time, "all you need to do is just lie back and do a bit of imagining, think you can manage that?" There was a slight pause before the youngster, eye never leaving the cat smiling at the foot of his bed, began to slide down into his bedcovers, laying flat out about a minute or so later, obediently letting his eyelids fall shut at Big's gentle command of,

"Close your eyes, now", thinking up a suitable scenario in his head, the cat quickly settled on both the rhyme and something to go with it, "image this Eddie; your family's Scottish by descent so this is pretty relevant to you in a way – you're on a ship, one of the last ships to leave your shores, heading for the Isle of Skye with a priceless trophy on board. It's just after the rebellion, king Charles has fallen and you have to flee, the English are coming and they want revenge. So you and everyone you love is on board the last ship out of harbour, the wind and spray are in your hair as you watch the coastline fade over the horizon – see all that clearly?" He waited, a crucial pause before, with a look of slight concentration etched on his face, the armadillo prostrate before him gave a nod, seeing that and bringing the lines of the old song he'd read as a child, Big began to softly intone the first lines, lulling the child before him to sleep:

"_Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wind,_

_On'ard the sailor's cry…"_

It seemed to be working, already Edward had lost his look of concentration, his expression softening as he began to feel the pull of sleep at the back of his mind, a tug that only grew stronger as the song continued:

"…_Carry the lad, born to be king_

_O'er the sea to Skye_

_Burnt are our homes, in exile and death,_

_Scattered the loyal men…"_

He was fading fast, of that Big had no doubt; in fact it was becoming more of a battle to keep his own eyes open now. Still, as the last couple of lines came to his lips, he realised it was a battle he could soon afford to capitulate in; _just as soon as I'm in my own room and got this armadillo off to sleep_;

"…_Yet ere the sword cool in its sheath_

_Charlie will come again"._

With that, Big made to stand up, hoping he had enough power in his legs to do so; however, even before he'd made it to halfway in that regard, a murmur, the barest of murmurs that even he could barely hear, just about made it to his ears,

"Please", it was Edward, the armadillo's lips hardly moving as he breathed the words forwards, "sing it again". _Sure thing_; taking a second to smile, Big idly wondered if, years ago, he'd looked like this as his mother and grandmothers had sung him into slumber, before taking another breath and beginning to recite the old song once more, a phantom wind at his back and a rolling deck beneath his feet as, immersed in memory, he lived the rhyme as much as Edward did, and he loved every minute of it as much as any child could.

He actually didn't just finish with a single encore, he repeated himself three or four times just to be sure the little armadillo wasn't going to be revisited by phantom terrors in the darkness as he lay asleep; only when he was sure Eddie was completely spark out did he allow himself a pat on the back and, after collecting himself for a second, the strength to stand up, standing still against the sudden lurch of vertigo that accompanied such a movement so late at night.

"Heh", his words were a whisper from the corner of his mouth, aimed at the only other awake Mobian in the room, "worked like a charm; come on, we best get outta…" It was only then that his gaze followed his words and he was forced to double-take a little before then simply staring outright; _okay, might have been wrong there_; with a gruff sigh, the cat realised the form slumped in the chair opposite him, already gone and away with the fairies and then some; _I am the only awake Mobian in this room_. And it was true, Mighty was fast asleep and, tempting as it was, Big realised he couldn't wake her just to make her drag herself another few feet to collapse into bed again. So, after taking a second to memorise the layout of the room around him from the illumination of Edward's night light, the cat circled around the bed and, with a deft flick of his hand, pinched out the light itself, plunging the room into darkness once more.

XXX

_Now this brings back memories_; despite the grey haze of tiredness overlaying all his other senses almost to the point of amnesia, the cat couldn't help but smile at his sudden thought and relive those memories again, the buffering barrier of exhaustion making even the mnemonic pain less acute as he recalled the circumstances behind the last time he'd ended up carrying the armadillo now in his arms once more; _not quite as sore as they used to be and for that I'm grateful. Guess I really do have something to thank you for_; looking down at where his girlfriend was laid prostrate in his grip, a grin of true, genuine affection as he realised a truth in the matter; _you were right – good memories really can bury bad news if you concentrate on them hard enough. Just as well really, I was getting a bit sick of trying not to remember anything at…hmm?_ A noise in front of him, sort of a mechanical whirr made him look up; as soon as he had done so he came to a stumbling halt, trying desperately to wipe his face clean of emotion at the same time as try to come up with a gracious apology at very short notice for the figure he'd come very close to running over without realising it. Killing the backwards momentum of her wheelchair with a deft flick of even her half-paralysed hand, Nessie drew her aged head up to look at both him and, he squirmed in embarrassment, her grand-daughter some generations removed as she lay comatose.

For a moment neither spoke, there was just silent communication raging between them, mostly apology as far as Big was concerned though Nessie's aged face was, as usual, pretty much inscrutable. Or a least, it was up until the point she smiled and drew her hands up into her lap,

"Now I've seen card tricks in my time Big, thousands of them, but by my reckoning your one back there topped the lot", slightly more relaxed now he knew he wasn't in trouble of any kind, the cat settled onto his back foot and let her finish, "so, you'll be going home with happy memories of the Steppes I hope?"

"Oh yes", the cat chuckles gruffly, unable to convey anything with his hands as Mighty was still filling them so hoping his words would be enough to get the point across, "and I won't be leaving for a while yet, something I'm extremely pleased about I can tell you – I'm looking forwards to later in the morning more than I can tell you". Nessie touched her chair forwards a little, ending up so close to the pair of other Mobians that all Big could see was the crown of her shell and her ears, though thankfully he could still hear her as well as he ever had,

"And you're not alone in that, this one you're carrying's usually the first one down to see the treasures Saint Nicholas has left for us all", suddenly she looked up, such a piercing gaze of scrutiny in her pale green eyes that almost out of instinct Big fell back a pace, shocked at the vehemence of love in that ancient stare of a mother and grandmother to countless children, "have you lain with her Big?"

_Ah_; hand on heart it hadn't been the last thing he'd expected, though that didn't mean he'd been able to prepare for it at all; _can't help but be honest here, though I do wish my face would stop burning so much_. Somehow the realisation that he could focus on the heat now threatening to set his thickened winter fur aflame calmed his hammering pulse a little and, taking a breath and trying to organise his divided and scattered thoughts, he returned her scrutiny with a look of honest openness,

"No, although", despite himself his voice lowered, his tone that of a child scolded for harbouring unsavoury thoughts, "I can't say I haven't thought about it…a bit". He knew how foolish he must have sounded and, more to the point, so did Nessie; his feverish mental plotting of ways to apologise was so frenzied that the sudden light touch on the tips of his fingers, only just able to transmit themselves through the material of his gloves, made his jaw drop, the undignified spectacle he must have made exacerbated as he actually saw what was causing such a sensation.

Nessie was patting his hand, the one supporting under her relation's shell, making sure Mighty didn't slip and go to the floor head-first.

He was thunderstruck, completely unable to comprehend what was happening; his perfect memory had come up with nothing to even come close to this sort of experience before and therefore he was blind in the light of this new sensation – didn't Nessie mind what he'd just said?

"I know Big", only her words snapped him back to reality; looking down again he saw her weathered, well-lined face crinkle into a smile bestowed with the wisdom only age could muster, "unlike yourself I've seen it all before; it was in young Samson's face when he was courting Paula, and in Stefan's when he made dear Emily his fiancé, hard as that might be to believe. I don't think what's in your mind is too far from hers either, truth be told". Understanding some of what she meant, the cat merely watched as slowly Nessie's hand crabbed its away from his own, moving up to caress Mighty's shoulder – though he couldn't be sure in the darkness clouding them all, Big would almost have sworn that she responded to such contact even through the veil of her sleep, a smile might have spread over her face and she could have rolled slightly, trying to get closer even as her grandmother withdrew her touch, settling back in her chair and drinking in a long draught of the oxygen she needed before speaking once more,

"It's the same every year Big; she did tell you about the little cards we'll keep under our pillows tonight?" Trying to stifle a yawn Big could only nod and, thus answered, Nessie carried on, hands in her lap once more, "Well, it's always my wish every year to last another, just one more time; force this old shell to get around to next Christmas and see more of my family grow up, maybe even find love and settle down, take things from there. You have your wish written?" Once more Big nodded, this time managing to speak as well,

"Oh yes, did it almost as soon as I heard about it", he assured her before leaning down a touch, voice a little more conspiratorial as he spoke again, "and, not meaning to give it all away, but I think something in our wishes might turn out to be mutually supportive, if you catch my meaning?" Nessie smiled, reached out to touch his finger one last time and then withdrew, directing her chair out of the way of the knackered cat and his comatose passenger,

"I'm sure I've got most of the message Big; well, I shouldn't keep you any longer, you both look like you could do with a rest, so do I come to that – not quite as young as I used to be you know", the comment was said with a youthful zest and forced Big to stifle a chuckle badly, the humour appreciated even if it was entirely probable that even he wouldn't be able to remember much of it in the morning through the shades of foggy exhaustion clouding his memory like breath over a mirror, "get yourselves where you need to be Big, who should have been Bill, after his father"; _something tells me that tag's sticking with me for a while yet_; "and thanks for carrying her, don't think I'd have been up to the job and this thing doesn't come equipped with a tow cable. Still, goodnight to you both".

"And you Nessie", he had been tempted to use her real name as a parting shot but, overall, decided it wasn't worth spoiling an almost perfect night with a little quibble like that; instead he simply inclined his head and strode past where she'd backed up to let him through, "I, in fact we'll see in the morning". She spared him a sideways look before her wheelchair engaged forwards drive and began to trundle away, disappearing into the night where her own bed no doubt awaited her eagerly,

"I look forwards to it; goodnight". _Not as much as I do Nessie_; even as he tried to recall exactly which door Mighty should be resting behind Big diverted enough of his extremely sorely taxed mental strength to cast that certainty in iron; _not as much as I do_.

XXX

"Okay then, there we go", a few minutes later, having had to solve not one but two tricky problems that had almost made his vision swim; having to fumble around in Mighty's pocket for her room key in the pitch black and then, once that kafuffle had been dealt with, have to somehow throw back the covers of her bed without putting her not-inconsiderable weight down had been enough to make the small part of his mind that hadn't yet been submerged beneath slumber screaming with frustration, desperate to join the rest of itself and get some much-needed shut-eye. Still, as he finally let Mighty flump down from across his shoulder and the armadillo collapsed onto the mattress, still as dead to the world as she ever was when she fell asleep, a little thing like falling from the fireman's carry the cat had been forced to manoeuvre her into in order to rake back the covers of the queen-sized bed he'd decided must have been hers, he reckoned it was worth it overall – if nothing else he'd have something to needle her with over breakfast. _It was either that or leave you sleeping on your front-door mat Might_; words such as those came to him even as, operating on auto-pilot, his body traversed from where it was leant down and haphazardly pulled the blankets up around her.

Having completed its work and then let his mind catch up with it, Big's body and mind once more acted as one to try and somehow find their way back to their own living quarters; before that, however, he paused, his eyes, engineered by nature to see well even in darkness, focussing on the face of the armadillo before him; after a second of looking his hand moved in on the act, reaching forwards with but a single finger extended, the tip of such a digit feathering a touch across Mighty's brow, the contact both chilling and thrilling to him as Nessie's words bubbled up from the back of his mind again; _…thinking the same things I am…no, come on now_; he shook his head, ignoring the frantic pitching of the room such an action caused; _this isn't the time – it's time to get your own head down now. And a good start to that would be standing up…oh, wait..._

It was a thought he never finished as by then it was too late; as he suddenly stood up tall having been stooped for so long, the blood drained from his head back down into his body even as he clumsily half-turned towards the door he was never going to reach as his senses, losing their oxygen for a minute, completely shut down. His knees went to water as his mind slipped for a minute and he half-fell backwards – he felt something soft underneath him, had the very vaguest of sensations as one of his ears was crushed into something soft and yielding and then, free will crushed utterly and a slave to sleep, he knew nothing more.

XXX

_Ummm_; waking up was never an easy thing to do as far as Mighty was concerned, there were always a few minutes of disorientation before all was right with the world again – today it was that she was resting at an angle, rather than at the horizontal position she usually had whenever she took her repose. Well, that and the droning noise that was rising and falling in pitch in her ear; even as she finally gave up and let her eyes open, the bags underneath them weighing her down like plates of cold rice pudding, Mighty wondered why reality still hadn't reasserted itself as she felt like her bed was on a slant – in fact it was only as she shifted a leg, seeking to stick a toe out from under the nice, warm blanket and try to work out how quickly she'd need to get dressed before she turned into a Mobian popsicle, that her common sense suddenly rebooted and made a couple of facts stick together in a way that immediately banished all thoughts of doing anything else for the immediate future.

_Oh God_; suddenly even breathing was something she had to remind herself to do; she remained as rigid as a board as she frantically tried to disbelieve what she was hearing and experiencing – she couldn't even bring herself to look to see how right she was. That task was instead left to one of her hands; slowly pulling it free from where it was confined under the blanket with the rest of her, the armadillo scrunched her eyes shut and slowly reached it behind her, knowing what she would feel even before her palm pressed into a warm, soft, squashy something that rose and fell in a steady, rhythmic pattern; _this is me dead then_. How had this happened, in fact, more to the point what had happened last night – as far back as she could recall there was something about going into the wrong room for some reason, a bit of a sing-song over something and then…nothing; _did I fall asleep then? Yes, I must have done_; it was the only thing that made sense, and the thrill of knowing that she was right was indescribable as, pulling her hand back, she realised she still had her gloves on – she was still fully clothed, had to be; _because I didn't get to bed myself – someone, and I've got a good idea who_; the conclusion made her smile as she teased a couple of long, purple hairs from her glove with her free hand; _put me here, so everything's okay. And even if it wasn't, so what?_

For the second time in two days the thought made her stop dead – running it back through her mind made her do two things, aside from blush; firstly, she chastised herself for giving the thought credence in the first place and, more importantly, she discounted possible scenarios and instead focussed on the situation as it was. After all, even to a casual observer it would have been patently obvious that everything had to be innocent; after all, she still had everything on and would have wagered good money that Big still did as well, and secondly she could feel that, rather than under the blanket with her, he was actually on top of them and still sleeping away merrily. _And Bekka wouldn't be that harsh anyway – after all, I've never given her any trouble, well_; that strictly wasn't true but compared to a couple of other pebbles in her avalanche, the tricks she'd gotten up to were relatively small fry; _not enough for her to really bother with anyway. And dad, pah_; she pulled a face as if trying to ignore a bad smell; _forget him – I could be locked in a chastity belt and he still wouldn't believe anything except what he wanted to believe - I'll never win with him, so why bother trying? Instead, let's just enjoy what we've got…hmm_….

A more calculating look on her face now as a plan began to formulate, Mighty reached behind her again, this time with more consideration on her face as she poked and probed for something she could grab hold of; just as the tip of her tongue began to peek from the corner of her mouth she stiffened with a muffled gasp of triumph – a minute later, Big's arm lay across her shoulder, his hand entwined with hers atop the blanket as she stroked his index finger with her thumb, a soft grin on her face before her expression hardened somewhat, a cross between regret and devil-may-care flippancy as she realised she'd be losing both her family records in the same Christmas; _ah, but so what – no point being the first down if you can't open your presents until everyone gets there is there? So, sorry guys_; the thought in her mind finally solidified into certainty, Mighty closed her eyes once more and willed herself back to sleep once more; _you'll have to start without me_. In the moments it took before she finally joined Big in the realms of dreams again, however, the armadillo was careful to wish each and every member of her family the happiest of seasons and spared a fleeting second to pray with utmost conviction that everyone she'd left behind in Angel Island was having at least as good a time as she was in their merry-making.

For that reason perhaps, it was for the best that Mighty was in the dark about the events that were actually unfolding upon the floating island itself, for in all probability had she known about even half of them it would have been doubtful that, even where she was, with her kith and kin all about her and the arms of the Mobian she loved around her, the spirit of Christmas and her own inner fonts of joy and wellness with the world could have continued flowing against the backdrop of the sorrows being unleashed there even now, as, blessed by her ignorance, she dreamed in peace again with Big where she wanted him, right by her side.

A/N: Well, I managed the deadline I set myself – this is going up the day before my interview; wish me luck everyone, I'm going for it big style! Sorry for the nasty cliffie just there, but consider it an advanced warning – the next follow-on fic from this one is not going to be a happy one.


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